Ryan Reaves rides middle of road after Patrik Laine injury

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Ryan Reaves could see both sides of the latest ‘Two Solitudes’ spat.

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The often-heated Toronto-Montreal rivalry was rekindled on Saturday at the Bell Centre when journeyman Cedric Pare of the Leafs reacted to a bold rush by the Canadiens forward Patrick Laine to split the defence, turning his knee into Laine’s left leg.

Laine needed help to the dressing room and, though the play was unpenalized, the Montreal bench was incensed. Enforcer Arber Xhekaj didn’t wait to confront Pare on his next shift, a flurry of hard, gloved punches to the back of the head that got himself ejected.

The Habs felt the officials missed a major for intent to injure, while there was surprise the ferocity of Xhekaj’s response didn’t warrant a suspension of some kind. NHL player safety assessed Xhekaj a slap-on-the-wrist fine of $3,385 US, the maximum under the CBA, for jumping Pare.

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With Xhekaj kicked out, the Leafs scored once on a seven-minute power play and, with other distracted Habs out on their own revenge missions, Toronto won 2-1.

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“Obviously an unfortunate play (on Laine),” said Reaves, who usually metes out vigilante justice when the skate is on the other foot. “I know Pare wasn’t trying to do anything malicious. You feel for Laine, trying to reboot his career in a new city.”

Laine was picked second overall behind Toronto captain Auston Matthews in 2016, but has encountered trouble establishing himself and staying healthy.

“Xhekaj is obviously there to do his job and the league dealt with it as it dealt with it,” Reaves said with a shrug.

Further to that, Reaves said it would have been equally hard for him to hold back his anger if it were a star Leafs player injured on a similar play, with the choice between supporting a teammate and facing game ejection and possible supplemental discipline.

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He didn’t play Saturday because the Leafs used mostly minor leaguers in an exhibition road game, per NHL tradition.

“It’s hard to go about things like that because you have instigator rules, all these rules that try to make hockey safer, but that’s just where the new NHL is,” the veteran Reaves said. “I’m sure everyone wishes it was handled differently, that the incident didn’t happen. But those things happen in hockey, it is a fast game.”

As of early Monday afternoon there was no update on Laine’s condition, though he delighted players and coach Martin St. Louis by appearing rinkside at practice. Montreal is trying to reverse three straight years out of the playoffs and create a better team identity.

“I feel like seeing Patty coming in like that makes me feel that we’re building a home, not just a house,” St. Louis told local media. “So (losing him) stings a little more because I feel he was excited to come to the rink.”

Saturday was the last of two exhibition games between the teams before opening night Oct. 9 in Montreal. Even a one-game suspension for Xhekaj would’ve put the incident on the backburner until the teams meet next Nov. 9, but now an Xhekaj-Reaves mash-up surely will be hyped, as they’ve fought before.

Amid the howls of fan protest in both cities — Pare was booed the rest of the night, chastised on social media for the alleged cheap shot and not fighting back against Xhekaj — former Leaf Peter Holland posted on X on Monday morning in support of Pare.

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“Played with him last year (AHL Colorado Eagles). He’s not a dirty player and has really good hockey sense. Unfortunate circumstances 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,” he wrote.

Leafs rookie Marshall Rifai took on Jaroslav Slafkovsky in one of the subsequent bouts. Reaves will have some pointers for Rifai while they’re at the team’s Muskoka retreat for the next couple of days.

“I meant to grab him when he got off the ice (Monday), maybe I will next practice,” Reaves said. “He did well, got caught with one and that happens. I got caught with a couple, too, when I was younger and those are big learning points.

‘When that happens, you look over what went wrong (on replays) and adjust accordingly. Really quickly.”

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X: @sunhornby

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