Arber Xhekaj & Michael Pezzetta exchange pleasantries at Habs practice

The Montreal Canadiens held practice on Monday, with a meeting against the Ottawa Senators set for Tuesday night at the Bell Centre, and a couple of their enforcers exchanged some pleasantries.

Michael Pezzetta is known to never back down, regardless of who the guy across from him is. If you remember, he accepted an invitation to fight one of the league's heavyweights, Ryan Reaves. So, with his lack of games this season, his physical edge was on display at practice.

The guy that he shouted, slashed and shoved at practice was none other than Arber Xhekaj, who has very few accepting opponents. Xhekaj, who employs the same mentality as Pezzetta, is notably in a mood to be provoked. This is a great sign given the current situation for the Habs, and Brady Tkachuk's impending visit to Montreal.

But it's a bit of a concern that the teammates were after each other at practice right, I mean the slashes and shoves didn't look innocent. However, that is not the case at all, it was a heat of the moment thing, and the players are all holding one another accountable. If tensions don't boil over every now and then, I think that is more problematic than anything.

The Sheriff, and (Habs) Italian stallion are the two most rugged, abrasive players in the Habs lineup, and the attitude will serve them well down the stretch. I think that this shows they aren't going to take their foot off the gas pedal, and that is absolutely the mentality they should have right now.

Playoff hockey is a completely different animal, where physicality, chippiness and heated rivalries are not only welcomed but encouraged. The bigger the hate between the two teams, the higher the energy in the buildings climbs. Often this ends in heated fights and very active post-whistle scrums.

It's not a problem that they had heated exchanges at practice, so long as cooler heads prevail, and they don't have a hit list on each other now. Which, they very seriously don't, as evidenced by their exchange at the end of practice.

While you can argue that Xhekaj didn't exactly seem in the mood to accept an apology or whatever Pezzetta said to him, they didn't punch eacho ther in the head. So that counts for something. The pair seem to have shaken it off.

Xhekaj joked about the exchanges at practice during post-practice media availability. So, it's obvious by his lighthearted demeanour, it is all water under the bridge now.

The same can't be said about his animosity towards the Senators.

Xhekaj & the Habs focused on visiting Ottawa Senators

The Ottawa Senators are firmly in the first wildcard seat, with their sights set on the playoffs, but that doesn't mean they are going to slow down.

The Canadiens on the other hand are fighting for a wildcard spot, and with every win so crucial, the Senators are going against a hungry Habs team on Tuesday night.

Every battle in the past has given us no indication that the next installment of the rivalry between the Atlantic division rivals won't create an electric atmosphere.

I go into every game against the Senators with the hopes that Xhekaj and Tkachuk drop the gloves, and I think these games are the ones that Pezzetta should play in.

Another thing that I find myself doing is looking ahead to the future when Florian Xhekaj adds another element to the rivalry for the Canadiens. Ivan Demidov, too, of course, but for different reasons.

Montreal and Ottawa in the playoffs would be pure entertainment, and if they could play a seven-game series, I think everybody would experience quite a battle.