Arber Xhekaj receives the kind of news that Canadiens fans feared
Arber Xhekaj barely played, and Martin St-Louis made that impossible to miss in Montreal's 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
The Canadiens are now tied 2-2 in the series, but the bigger story coming out of Game 4 was St-Louis' bench usage at the Bell Centre.
Xhekaj finished with just 3:46 of ice time.
In the span of time, he made a mistake too.
-
That was the lowest total of his career, and it didn't happen because of an injury or any protocol issue.
It was a straight coaching call.
After six shifts in the first half of the game, Xhekaj never got back into the flow over the final 30 minutes.
That kind of usage says plenty on its own.
In a playoff game this tight, a defenseman playing under 4 minutes is usually a sign he was out of the coach's trust circle.
His previous career low had been 5:11 against the Carolina Hurricanes on March 29.
This was an even sharper cut, and it came with the series on the line.
Martin St-Louis is clearly searching for answers from Xhekaj
Xhekaj wasn't the only Canadiens player stuck watching.
St-Louis also slashed the minutes of Zachary Bolduc, Kirby Dach, and Joe Veleno.
Bolduc played 9:39, Dach logged 8:51, and Veleno finished at 6:42. That's a lot of bench time for three forwards in a 1-goal playoff loss.
Dach's usage stands out the most.
He has 5 points in 11 playoff games, including 4 goals, yet still played less than 9 minutes in Game 4.
Veleno's numbers point in the other direction.
He has 1 point in 4 playoff games this year, and his regular-season profile already raised questions about how much trust he would get.
Bolduc has also produced, with 6 points in 11 playoff games and 2 goals, which makes his limited role another choice that will draw attention before puck drop Thursday.
Game 5 now shifts to Buffalo with the series even.
St-Louis has a decision to make, and Xhekaj suddenly looks a lot closer to the press box than the blue line.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 12, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Pavel Dorofeyev | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Tage Thompson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Josh Doan | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Cutter Gauthier | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mason McTavish | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Zach Benson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Cole Caufield | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alex Newhook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mattias Samuelsson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Beckett Sennecke | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Olen Zellweger | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Rasmus Dahlin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ivan Demidov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jake Evans | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Norris | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brandon Saad | - | 1 | 1 | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||