Gary Bettman issues discipline: Arber Xhekaj and Beck Malenstyn directly targeted
Arber Xhekaj and Beck Malenstyn both got hit with maximum CBA fines Monday afternoon, less than 24 hours before the Canadiens and Sabres meet for Game 4 in Montreal.
The NHL Department of Player Safety dropped both rulings at 3:07 PM. No suspensions. Just wallets, lighter.
Xhekaj was docked $3,385.42 for roughing Sam Carrick. Malenstyn was hit harder, $3,515.63, for goalie interference on Jakub Dobes.
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Both incidents trace back to Sunday night's 6-2 Canadiens win at the Bell Centre. Montreal turned a tight series into a 2-1 lead with that one.
That kind of money won't sting either guy. The message behind it might.
The league rarely fines two players from the same game on opposite sides unless the chippiness crossed a real line. This series just got its temperature reading.
What the fines say about Tuesday's bounce-back game in Montreal
Lindy Ruff's group is now down a game and down a narrative. Goalie interference on Dobes, who has carried Montreal in the postseason, is exactly the kind of play Buffalo can't afford to keep selling.
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Dobes is sitting on a .919 save percentage through 9 playoff games. He's been the difference. Crashing his crease isn't a strategy, it's a tax bill.
Xhekaj's fine is a different story. He's a third pair option with 1 goal and 4 points in 65 regular season games, and he's been a healthy scratch in stretches.
But Martin St-Louis has dressed him in all 9 playoff games. There's a reason. Xhekaj is plus-4 in the postseason and the Canadiens want that physicality on the ice when things tilt.
Roughing Carrick, a 34-year-old grinder coming off a 16-point regular season, fits Xhekaj's job description perfectly. The fine is almost a receipt for services rendered.
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Buffalo eliminated Boston in 6 games to get here. Montreal needed 7 to put Tampa away. Both teams arrived bruised. They're not getting more polite.
The real question heading into Tuesday: does the league's quiet warning actually change anything, or does a desperate Sabres team lean even harder on the body and dare Montreal to retaliate?
Game 4 puck drop is Tuesday in Montreal. The Canadiens can push Buffalo to the brink with a win. Ruff's group needs an answer, and it probably won't be a clean one.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 10, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Cutter Gauthier | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Mitch Marner | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Alex Newhook | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Cole Caufield | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Rasmus Dahlin | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alexander Killorn | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Beckett Sennecke | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Tage Thompson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Jake Evans | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Zachary Bolduc | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Kirby Dach | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Pavel Dorofeyev | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mikael Granlund | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Ian Moore | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Juraj Slafkovsky | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||