Arber Xhekaj's heated warmup exchange with 6-foot-6 Jordan Greenway adds fuel before game 2
Arber Xhekaj gave Martin St-Louis early juice before puck drop, and Montreal fed off it right away.
The Canadiens defenseman was jawing with Jordan Greenway during warmups, and the size gap was impossible to miss.
Greenway, listed at 6'6" and 231 pounds, was standing over Xhekaj in that exchange.
It looked like Buffalo wanted to make the scene theirs before the game even started.
Instead, it flipped fast.
Just minutes into the first period of Game 2 against the Sabres, Montreal had already built a 2-0 lead.
That's why moments like this matter in a playoff building.
The chirping didn't stay in warmups. It carried into the opening shift and straight onto the scoreboard.
Xhekaj doesn't have to win a stare-down for the moment to land. He just has to make sure the other bench is thinking about him once the puck drops.
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The warmup moment turned into instant pressure for the Buffalo Sabres
That's what happened here. Buffalo had the bigger body in the exchange, but Montreal had the faster start, the louder bench, and the only early push that counted.
For the Sabres, that's the backfire.
Greenway's presence is supposed to tilt the temperature in Buffalo's favor, especially against a player like Xhekaj who plays right on the edge.
But when your team falls behind 2-0 almost immediately, the whole tone changes. Now the chirping becomes a target. Now every shift gets judged against the score.
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That's where Xhekaj is at his best. He can drag a game into the ditch, but he can also keep the building wired when his team is pressing.
The Canadiens looked like a club that took that warmup exchange personally.
Their jump was sharper, their attack came in waves, and Buffalo was chasing the game before it had settled.
That doesn't mean Xhekaj scored those goals or filled the scoresheet.
It means he helped set a tone, and Montreal grabbed it.
In a series game, that's enough to become part of the story.
Greenway may have towered over Arber Xhekaj in warmups, but the Canadiens owned the first punch where it mattered.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 8, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mitch Marner | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Alex Newhook | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Brett Howden | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Shea Theodore | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Zach Benson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alexandre Carrier | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Chris Kreider | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Michael Matheson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brayden McNabb | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Beckett Sennecke | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nick Suzuki | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Josh Anderson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Phillip Danault | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Doan | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Noah Dobson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Pavel Dorofeyev | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jake Evans | - | 1 | 1 | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||