NHL fans left shocked after ridiculous penalty call on Montreal's Arber Xhekaj against the Philadelphia Flyers

Arber Xhekaj is building a reputation as one of the toughest players in the NHL, and it appears to have influenced the officials to make an idiotic penalty call.

On Sunday, the Philadelphia Flyers battled the Montreal Canadiens, and while the game wasn't full of fire that some NHL games have been this season, there was plenty of drama throughout. The biggest moment came when Sean Couturier hit Canadiens forward Kirby Dach in the head, and with enforcer Arber Xhekaj on the ice, it simply wasn't going to slide, as he immediately stood up for his teammate.

During the scuffle that ensued, it was Couturier who dropped the gloves against Xhekaj first, starting what looked to be an intriguing tilt before Nick Seeler jumped in as the third man, immediately taking The Sheriff to the ice. Somehow, it was only Xhekaj who received an unsportsmanlike penalty, leading to confusion and anger on social media.

The play in question was an absolutely bizarre one, and while Couturier's hit on Kirby Dach certainly wasn't the worse offense we've ever seen, to allow a player to come third man in and taken down a player that was clearly engaged in a fight showed a ridiculous misinterpretation of the law from the officials. Simply put, the only way to even understand this one is to chalk it up to a reputation call on Xhekaj, but given the sequence of events, it's hard to look at him as the only one in the wrong on the play in question.

Ultimately, Montreal would come away 4-3 winners to get their season record back to 4-4-1, but given the call on Xhekaj it could have been much worse, with the NHL likely scratching their head over the call.

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