On the Leafs’ first power-play goal, he finished a check in the corner but let his man beat him to the net. Dobes made that save, but seconds later, Xhekaj pushed his man into the goalie, causing him to lose his stick. He didn’t recover it before Toronto scored. Then, on the Leafs’ go-ahead goal in the second frame, his man got free to set it up from behind the net. This is only the preseason, though, and the coach wasn’t going to hold it against him; he still gave him 21:31 of action, made him kill penalties, even the one in overtime. Commenting on his game, the bench boss explained:
