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WATCH: Arber Xhekaj irate after Michael Eyssimont jumps him during Montreal Canadiens vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
The game between the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning featured an odd sequence of events stemming from a case of mistaken identity.
The incident occurred in the second period when Lightning captain Steven Stamkos accidentally collided with his teammate Brandon Hagel in a race to the puck. Stamkos' shoulder made forceful contact with Hagel's head.
Believing that it was Arber Xhekaj who had hit Hagel, Michael Eyssimont immediately confronted the Canadiens defenseman.
Watch the video here:
Eyssimont dropped his gloves and went after Xhekaj, trying to start a fight. Xhekaj appeared confused by the sudden confrontation and refs jumped in quickly to restrain Eyssimont.
Arber Xhekaj was visibly upset and could be seen yelling at Eyssimont from the Canadiens bench.
Eyssimont was assessed a double minor penalty for roughing, giving Montreal a 4-minute power play. However, the Canadiens were unable to capitalize on the man advantage.
Tampa Bay ended up rolling to a 7-4 victory over Montreal.
Montreal Canadiens Head Coach Martin St. Louis' take on the 7-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning
The Montreal Canadiens were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention after the loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.
The defeat frustrated Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis, who lamented his team's poor second-period performance.
"We shot ourselves in the foot," St. Louis said of the loss postgame (via The Hockey News). "You've gotta be alert on the ice, you've gotta stay engaged mentally."
"Our floor has definitely risen this year, but tonight, it kind of dropped a little bit in the second," St. Louis added. "I see it as a one-off, I don't think it's a trend. We haven't had a period like that in a long time."
St. Louis felt his team essentially handed the potent Lightning offense several golden opportunities.
"It's not like they were coming end-to-end, breaking us down, we were making mental mistakes and, on top of that, we put them on the power play a lot. Everything that could go wrong in the second went wrong."
The Montreal Canadiens next face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday at Centre Bell Arena.
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