Department Of Player Safety Has Made An Official Decision On Xhekaj For Punching An Official Vs Bruins
An official decision was just made by the NHL Department of Player Safety after Arber Xhekaj punched an official during their game vs the Bruins on Sunday.
Montreal Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj was facing the possibility of a suspension for punching a ref after a brawl broke out between both teams.
During the second period of the Bruins-Canadiens game, tensions boiled over and a whole brawl broke out between the two teams. The Bruins were up 4-1 when Arber Xhekaj tried to get his team going, but may face a suspension because of it.
Lane Hutson collided with Mark Kastelic, right after this happened Trent Frederic and Arber Xhekaj dumped Trent Frederic and went after him as he was getting up, and that's when chaos erupted.
Mark Kastelic did not like that Xhekaj was going after Frederic and rushed over there dropping the gloves and throwing a punch at Xhekaj even though there were referees in between the two.
They tried to get away from the refs but the refs wouldn't allow it, and that's when Xhekaj tried to throw a punch at Kastelic and ultimately ended up hitting the ref.
NHL Player Safety makes an official ruling on Arber Xhekaj
It seems as though the NHL thought that the hit on the official was accidental, and wasn't enough to punish Xhekaj as there was no announcement past the 5 p.m deadline.
As the 5PM deadline for a suspension has passed, Xhekaj will face no supplemental punishment for the incident.
Hitting a referee is a serious offence in the NHL, Xhekaj is lucky he got nothing for this even if it was accidental.
