Former teammate of Cedric Pare defends his play from Saturday night

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Cooper Godin
September 30, 2024 (8:58)

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Former teammate of Toronto's Cedric Pare defended his play from Saturday night's game against the Montreal Canadiens.

It was a rough game at the Bell Centre on Saturday night as Original Six rivals Montreal and Toronto battled for the second time in 48 hours. The Canadiens dressed nearly their full NHL roster for the game, including Patrik Laine, who they acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets back in August.

Early in the first period, while on the powerplay, Laine was attempting to skate into the Maple Leafs' zone with the puck when he gets hit with a knee-on-knee from Cedric Pare of the Maple Leafs. Laine went down and was in a lot of pain and eventually needed to be helped back to the Canadiens' dressing room.

Unsurprisingly, Canadiens defenceman Arber Xhekaj wanted to get revenge for the incident and went after Pare, grabbing his jersey and throwing punches to the back of the head of the Maple Leafs blueliner. Xhekaj was ejected from the game, receiving 27 penalty minutes and on Sunday, was handed a fine of $3,385.42 by the National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Last year, Pare was in the Colorado Avalanche system, playing for their AHL affiliate, where he was teammates with Peter Holland. Holland took to social media on Sunday to defend his former teammate, saying that Pare is not a dirty player and that there was no intent to injure Patrik Laine on the play.

"Played with Pare last year. He's not a dirty player and has really good hockey sense. Unfortunate circumstance with Laine but I know there was no intent to injure.

Just a guy trying to make it to the next level and didn't want to get side stepped." Holland said.

With the incident now in the past, every Montreal Canadiens fan is anxiously awaiting word on the severity of Patrik Laine's injury and we should know early this week.