Tuesday night's preseason tilt between the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators was not for the faint of heart.
The Atlantic Division rivals went toe-to-toe in what turned into a testy affair, ending with a combined 152 penalty minutes between the two teams.
To no surprise, Arber and Florian Xhekaj were in the middle of it all for Montreal, each squaring off in two scraps a piece with the likes of Jan Jenik and Zack MacEwen.
While Canadiens fans loved that, they weren't as pleased with the actions of Senators forward Nick Cousins, who was going after their young star winger Ivan Demidov. Cousins first took a run at Demidov along the boards before slashing him in the hand/wrist later in the same sequence.
The 2024 fifth-overall pick appeared to be in immediate discomfort, which had everyone worried in the aftermath. However, Sportsnet Insider Elliotte Friedman had an update on Wednesday morning to ease all of their concerns.
"Don’t believe there’s any long-term injury concern for Demidov after the slash he took last night," Friedman wrote.
Don’t believe there’s any long-term injury concern for Demidov after the slash he took last night https://t.co/Jk8bwnfCE9
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) October 1, 2025
The 19-year-old is poised to enter his first full season in the NHL and the second of the three-year, $2.82 million entry-level contract he signed with the Canadiens in 2025.
Martin St. Louis wasn't a fan of the slash
As you can expect, Montreal Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis was not happy about Nick Cousins' slash on his young star Ivan Demidov.
HabsOnReddit shared what the bench boss had to say about it during his postgame interview on X (formerly Twitter).
"There’s no need for that. It’s an exhibition game; both teams are trying to get ready for a long season. I don’t think there’s any need for that in the game," St. Louis said.
Habs coach Marty St. Louis when asked about the dirty Nick Cousins slash on Ivan Demidov:
— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) October 1, 2025
“There’s no need for that. It’s an exhibition game, both teams are trying to get ready for a long season. I don’t think there’s any need for that in the game.” pic.twitter.com/BsnCG76Jw4
There's a reason many don't like the preseason, and it's because of incidents and potential injuries like this.
That being said, it sounds as if Demidov and the Canadiens avoided anything serious, and he should be ready to come out firing on all cylinders for Montreal's regular season opener next Wednesday night, October 8th, in Toronto against the Maple Leafs.