Kevin Bieksa, Elliotte Friedman opine Arber Xhekaj played a major role in 'brewing' Canadiens-Caps Game 3 brawl 

NHL analysts Kevin Bieksa and Elliotte Friedman believe Montreal Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj played a significant role in "brewing" the brawl that erupted during Game 3 between the Canadiens and Washington Capitals on Friday at Centre Bell.

The Capitals had jumped out to a 2-0 series lead, but Game 3 in Montreal was expected to be different with Xhekaj back in the lineup.

In the second period, a series of physical confrontations occurred, starting with Capitals forward Tom Wilson hitting Canadiens' Jake Evans, which prompted Montreal's Ivan Demidov to take out Wilson's legs in retaliation. Later, Mike Matheson and Christian Dvorak also made hits on Wilson.

Towards the end of the second period, Xhekaj and Wilson tried to engage in a fight but were separated by the referees, leading to a larger altercation between Wilson and Canadiens' Josh Anderson.

Speaking on Sportsnet, Friedman noted that the tension had been building since Xhekaj's presence was felt during the pregame warmup, with Canadiens fans being excited by his arrival.

“Watch the Canadiens during the game. They start to go after Wilson a little bit. He hits Evans, look at Demidov, he takes the legs out from underneath him. You're not thinking that he [Demidov] is the kinda of guy to do that," Friedman said.

Bieksa agreed with Friedman's assessment, suggesting that the Canadiens players would not have displayed such aggression towards Wilson if Xhekaj had not been in the lineup.

“They all feel like they can take shots at Wilson, because at the end of the day, Anderson or Xhekaj is gonna be the one that answers the bells. You're seeing everybody chip away at Tom Wilson now,” Bieksa said.

The Canadiens secured the game with a 6-3 win. Cole Caufield, Brendan Gallagher, Alex Newhook, Alexandre Carrier, Juraj Slafkovsky and Nick Suzuki netted for Montreal. Goaltender Sam Montembeault (11 saves) started the game and was replaced in the second period by Jakub Dobes (seven saves).

Meanwhile, Connor McMichael, Jakob Chychrun and Alex Ovechkin scored for the Capitals. Logan Thompson gave up five goals on 35 shots before leaving with an injury. Charlie Lindgren came in and stopped four shots.

Canadiens' Cole Caufield on 6-3 win against Capitals

After the game, Cole Caufield caught up with Sportsnet’s Shawn McKenzie to talk about the importance of home ice and the energy the fans bring:

"It's a special place to pay and they [fans] show up every game and this was special, my favorite game as a Hab.

"We are a group that learnt to stick together. Next man up mentality, when a guy goes down, goalie goes down, it's what next and I think we did really good job of that tonight," he added.

Washington holds a 2-1 lead in the series ahead of Game 4 at Centre Bell on Sunday.