When the Montreal Canadiens took on the Colorado Avalanche yesterday, they did it without Jayden Struble, who was ruled out because of an upper-body injury. This meant that Arber Xhekaj could remain in the lineup as he was initially due to make way for rookie Adam Engstrom.
After making his NHL debut with the Utah Mammoth, the young Swede was a healthy scratch in the game against the Vegas Golden Knights and reintegrated the lineup for Saturday’s game.
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Xhekaj didn’t have a great game against Colorado, not many Habs did, of course, but it is evident for him as he took a tumble in front of Jakub Dobes on the first goal of the game and completely lost his man in coverage on the second goal. The rugged defenseman did, however, land nine hits in the game, not that it made much of a difference in a one-way affair, but he still accounted for a third of the Canadiens’ hits throughout the game in 13:46 on the ice.
Meanwhile, Engstrom skated for 13:29 and was one of the only three Canadiens’ players to escape a negative differential on the night. The rookie took one shot, landed one hit and blocked two shots. If Struble sits for a few games, the youngster is likely to get even more comfortable on the ice as he really doesn’t look out of place, so much so that when Struble is ready to return, Martin St-Louis could have a tricky decision on his hands.
While Xhekaj brings a lot of physicality and grit, Struble has shown this season that he, too, can bring it. A couple of weeks ago, in a 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins on November 15, it was Struble who dropped the gloves four seconds in to try and energize his team. Xhekaj also did it less than four minutes later, but Struble certainly showed that he’s willing to do what needs to be done and that he’s not afraid to get physical.
In 22 games this season, Xhekaj has landed 41 hits (third on the team), which is five more than Struble, who has 36, but in just 19 games. Interestingly, neither is topping the Canadiens in that category; the two leaders are Juraj Slafkovsky with 44 hits in 24 games, followed by Zachary Bolduc with 42 in as many games. As for Engstrom, he only has a single hit in his two games, but physicality is not something he’s known for.
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