Arber Xhekaj hints at the real reason he fought Zack Kassian.

21 year old Montreal Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj has become quite the star in the city of Montreal and he has done so in very short order thanks to a physical style of play that the Canadiens haven't truly boasted on their roster for some time. 

Xhekaj made headlines once again this week, and won over even more fans, when he had a spectacular clash with veteran National Hockey League enforcer Zack Kassian during a game between the aforementioned Canadiens and the Arizona Coyotes.

Although it looked like the older, bigger, Kassian was perhaps the instigator of this exchange, it would be the young Xhekaj who would dominate the exchange. Although Kassian fired off some shots initially, he was left with little to do but defend himself as Xhekaj rained down blow after blow before eventually dropping Kassian to the ice.

While initially it may have seemed like this was merely a case of two tough guys clashing on the ice, there may have been a little bit more motivation than meets the eye behind this clash between Xhekaj and Kassian. On Saturday, the Canadiens defenseman revealed that he was well aware of the fact that Kassian had transgressed against the Canadiens last season while Xhekaj was playing for the Canadiens American Hockey League affiliate team the Laval Rocket.

That transgression of course was this incident involving Kassian and Canadiens goaltender Samuel Montembeault, one that occurred while Kassian was a member of the Edmonton Oilers:

Xhekaj also provided some insight into why he was so aggressive when taking on Kassian earlier in the week, something that appears to have been a part of a well orchestrated strategy. Canadiens teammate Michael Pezzetta informed Xhekaj prior to the game that Kassian was more of a technical style of fighter, leading to Xhekaj bull rushing him in order to prevent Kassian from getting comfortable.

It is a strategy that appears to have worked out quite well for the Canadiens rookie defenseman.