Arber Xhekaj punishes Sam Carrick for hit on Lane Hutson.

The Montreal Canadiens fan base breathed a sigh of relief this past week when it was announced that Canadiens star defenseman Lane Hutson had agreed to terms on a new 8 year contract that will presumably keep him a Montreal Canadiens for the foreseeable future.

Hutson has been an incredibly important player for the Canadiens success and you can bet that after such a monumental contract signing that the Canadiens would want to protect their new investment. That is exactly what they did on Saturday night when they dressed Habs enforcer Arber Xhekaj for a clash against Atlantic Division rivals the New York Rangers.

It proved to be a wise decision on the part of the Canadiens because Xhekaj made his presence known in the second period after a big it on, you guessed, Lane Hutson. That hit came courtesy of the Rangers' Sam Carrick who delivered a heavy hit behind the Canadiens net, a hit that sent Hutson down to the ice but appeared to be clean.

Despite that Xhekaj was not about to allow Carrick to skate away unpunished and he followed it up with a hit of his own before challenging Carrick to drop the gloves. To Carrick's credit he showed no fear of the Canadiens enforcer and readily dropped his gloves, leading to a back and forth exchange between the two men.

This one looked like it would be over a few times but Xhekaj and Carrick refused to let the officials step in, keeping this one going longer than I would have otherwise expected. Full credit to both men for putting on a show for the fans in attendance.

You can see the replay in the short video below: