Losers of five straight headed into a tilt with the Maple Leafs in Montreal on Saturday, the Canadiens, it feels safe to say, were not calling up Florian Xhekaj for his goalscoring. The 21-year-old, 6-foot-4, 204-pound winger has two goals and two assists in 16 games in the AHL this season, and 44 penalty minutes. They were looking for a shot in the ass—metaphorically—of the kind often brought by older brother and Habs defenseman Arber Xhekaj. If one Xhekaj provides a boost in energy and isn't above dropping the gloves to keep opponents honest, what might two Xhekajes produce?
A 5-2 win, to end your suspense. But more relevant for blog purposes, Xhekaj, after picking up his first NHL point, picked up his first NHL fight, going toe to toe with Dakota Mermis (really good names all around).
Watching it all from the stands was the Xhekaj family, who flew in for Florian's debut. Father Jack, mother Simona, and two sisters—and there was a fairly wide range in the emotions experienced as they watched their baby boy punch and be punched.
Though Simona couldn't have been happier or more adorable about Florian's call-up, I would have thought the rowdy first son might have inured her to watching violence. We can't forget Arber here, who watched the fight from the Habs bench. I bet he takes after his father:
One suspects that fighting in hockey would drop precipitously if players were reminded that their moms were watching. One imagines it would then rise astronomically once they remembered that their older brother was, too.
