(Video) Arber Xhekaj and Mathieu Olivier drop gloves in heavyweight tilt, trade several punches in Canadiens-Blue Jackets game

Arber Xhekaj and Mathieu Olivier got into a heavyweight clash and exchanged several punches which left the former with a bruise on his face.

(Video) Arber Xhekaj and Mathieu Olivier drop gloves in heavyweight tilt, trade several punches in Canadiens-Blue Jackets game

Arber Xhekaj and Mathieu Olivier landed several punches on each other (Image via Yardbarker/X)

In a fierce clash on Saturday night between the Montreal Canadiens and the Columbus Blue Jackets, a heavyweight fight broke out. Arber Xhekaj and Mathieu Olivier dropped their gloves and exchanged several punches.

The incident took place during the second period with the game still level at 1-1. The two seemed to have a conversation with each other after Xhekaj’s had cross-checked Sean Kuraly earlier in the match.

YouTube video

The fight between them took off after a puck drop between the two teams. In this heavyweight tilt, the two players would grab each other’s jersey and threw some strong punches at each other.

FS Video

The ending of this fight was slightly different than others bouts in the NHL. The two of them stood their ground and were unable to knock down their opponents on the ground, thus ending the fight in a stalemate.

Both players would receive a 5-minute penalty for their part in this fight. As he made his way towards the penalty box, Xhekaj was seen bleeding on the left side of his face.

While the fight failed to produce a winner, the fans inside the arena were pleased with the effort of the two NHLers. This turned out to be Xhekaj’s first fight of the 2024-25 season. As for Olivier, this was his third bout of the season following fights with Tyler Tucker of the St. Louis Blues and Andreas Englund of the Los Angeles Kings.

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Arber Xhekaj reflects on his fight with Mathieu Olivier

After the game, a bruised Arber Xhekaj reflected on his fight with Mathieu Olivier. In the post-game conference, the 23-year-old recalled their previous fight and called his opponent as one of the toughest players in the league.

Arber Xhekaj and Mathieu Olivier
Arber Xhekaj (L)and Mathieu Olivier (R) [Image via The Hockey News/Union Blue]

During the conference, Xhekaj admitted that not many guys go into fights these days so he took his chance when it arrived and it felt “good” to him.

I fought him a couple years ago, but I fell pretty early. He’s one of the toughest guys in the league, and not many guys go these days. When you get a chance, you gotta get one out. It’s been a while for me so it felt good.

Arber Xhekaj said in the post-game conference

He even took a slight dig at the Mike Tyson–Jake Paul fight on Friday night. In a much-anticipated fight, Paul emerged as the winner following a unanimous decision. However, the bout received several criticism from fans on social media.

Pointing this out, Xhekaj said that he thought they needed to give the people a better show than last night.

I was sitting in the box and I was like ‘Yeah we got to give people a better show than that last night for sure.’

Arber Xhekaj said in the post-game conference
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Xhekaj and his team went on to win the game 5-1 and claim their sixth win of the season to take their record to 6-10-2 for the season. The Columbus Blue Jackets on the other hand were at the bottom of their division while entering this game and will remain there for a while with a 6-9-2 record.