Beck Malenstyn and Arber Xhekaj receive the maximum punishment from Department of Player Safety

The fine itself changes nothing on the blue line. Xhekaj wasn't suspended, so St-Louis still has his tone-setter for Game 4.

Montreal won Game 3 by a 6-2 score and grabbed a 2-1 series lead, but the bigger takeaway is how fast this matchup is sliding away from structure.

Beck Malenstyn was fined $3,515.63 after crashing into Jakub Dobes, while Xhekaj took the maximum $3,385.42 for roughing Sam Carrick.

For St-Louis, that split matters. He can live with confrontation. He can't let Montreal hand Lindy Ruff a special-teams script in Game 4. Buffalo finished the season with 109 points, so extra chaos helps the deeper roster more than the louder bench.

Malenstyn drove through the crease at speed and Dobes absorbed the contact before the pile formed around the net.

After the horn, Xhekaj stepped into the scrum and dropped a hard right on Carrick while bodies were still tied up along the wall.

Carrick had just returned for Game 3 after missing time with a left-arm injury, and Buffalo immediately put him on a line with Malenstyn. That's not accidental. Ruff wanted friction in the bottom six.

St-Louis has his own choice now. Xhekaj played 7:10 in Game 3, which tells you Montreal already knows the balance is delicate.

Dobes is too important to this swing. He went 29-10-4 in the regular season, and once a young goalie starts getting bumped, every whistle gets louder in the building.

So this is no longer about two minor fines. It's about whether Montreal keeps dictating the series with pace, or lets Buffalo drag it into a grinder.

Also read on House Of Hockey :
Arber Xhekaj's reported punishment is revealed as Canadiens get ready for Game 4