Arber Xhekaj declines Ryan Reaves’ invitation.

One wonders why Ryan Reaves was added to the Toronto lineup ahead of tonight’s game.

After all, he brings absolutely nothing to the ice apart from physical play from time to time. He hasn’t even dropped the gloves this season, and tonight he wants to put an end to that drought.

At the end of the first period, he invited Arber Xhekaj to dance, but wisely, the Montreal defenseman declined and even pointed to the scoreboard. It was 3-0 at that moment, and the home team had just scored two goals in nine seconds.

On one hand, Reaves tried to rally his team, and Xhekaj did well to refuse and not change the momentum of the game.

I don’t know if the coaches told him not to fight, but if the young man made this decision on his own, it proves what we have known for some time now: Xhekaj is becoming more and more mature.

This season, he has simplified his game. He still delivers good checks, including this one on Reaves:

He picks the right moments to deliver them; he no longer compromises easily and doesn’t drop the gloves every two seconds.

And most importantly, unnecessary penalties have greatly decreased. It’s no coincidence that number 72 is used on a third pairing instead of being in the stands like Jayden Struble.

Overtime

The left-hander has been impressing me a lot recently, and I believe he has solidified his role as the sixth defenseman (for now).

In 41 games, he may only have five points, but he also has a decent record in the circumstances: minus-1.