CANATA | The last week was hectic for Arber Xhekaj as he served more penalty minutes than he played.

• Also read: CH: Another defeat to end the preseason

Last Saturday against the Maple Leafs he played 1:29 minutes and spent 27 minutes in the penalty box, and on Tuesday against the Senators he spent 9:22 minutes on the ice and 17 minutes in the penalty box.

The trend reversed Saturday night against the Sens, despite dropping the gloves for the third straight game. This time, the Colossus spent just five minutes on the bench, compared to 19:03 on the ice. With a good slap shot in the third period, he even allowed himself to score his team’s second goal.

“I just wanted to play 60 minutes, that’s all,” he said with a laugh. I didn’t think of anything else. Obviously there are things that happened and we can’t change anything, so we just have to move on.”

This is how he summed up his last week, he who had not met with the media since his attack on Cédric Paré on Tuesday evening, after the Senators player Kirby Dach had attacked harshly.

Busy

Xhekaj has had an up-and-down training camp, but he had arguably his best game on Saturday evening and Martin St-Louis believes that Xhekaj needed this game.

“He had the chance to be engaged the whole game. In general, I think with the repetition he’s had, we’re winners.

Xhekaj further said that he would not hesitate to defend his teammates as he sees himself in the role of a big brother.

“I am there for my teammates, when they need me I am there, it is something I impose on myself. I want to be the guy who is there for her.

“We have a young team, some talented little players, we are all there for each other and the bond in the dressing room is close. If you harass one of us, you harass all of us. We’re not going to be pushed around this year.”

Guhle quickly calms down

Kaiden Guhle will only play in this game against the Senators before the start of the season because he had his appendix removed at the start of training camp.

He himself admitted that he was a bit rusty at the start of the game, but then found his rhythm as the game progressed.

“I touched the puck a few times in the first half of the first period and I wanted to get that into the rhythm of the game.

“Later in the period there is a skirmish, which contributes to the fluid. For me it was a good starting point.”

Martin St-Louis, on the other hand, noted that the young defender had not been slowed down by the break imposed on him.

“He got into it pretty quickly,” he analyzed.

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