The Montreal Canadiens have an incredible weapon in Lane Hutson, and they should use him as much as possible, especially on the power play.
While the Montreal Canadiens did manage to win their duel with the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night, the inability to score on the four-on-three power play they got thanks to the tripping call Rasmus Andersson took with less than a minute to go in the third frame.
When the puck dropped in overtime, Martin St-Louis had Nick Suzuki, Phillip Danault, Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov on the ice. Danault’s presence is easy to explain: the coach wanted to give his team the best chance to win the draw, which the veteran did before rushing back to the bench to allow Cole Caufield to join the attack. What was surprising for me, though, was Lane Hutson’s absence.
Don’t get me wrong, Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky, and Demidov are all talented players who belong on an overtime power play, but Hutson’s mobility and creativity are too important to do away with. The Habs have 36 power-play goals this season, and the blueliner was on the ice for 29 of them. Of the seven he was on the bench for, the second wave scored four, and only three by the top power-play. Two of the three came at five-on-three with Noah Dobson manning the blueline to unleash big slapshots, and the other was at five on four.
On Tuesday night, as the seconds passed on the power, the four Canadiens’ forwards were passing the puck around, and for the 57 seconds they were in the attacking zone, they only produced a single shot. Why? Simply because Vegas is 10th in the league in penalty kill with an 81.1% success rate, and they are well structured. To make the most of a man-advantage against them, you need to make the move. Standing around passing the puck won’t open them up; you need Hutson’s dynamism, you need him walking the blueline, twisting, turning, and being his unpredictable self to fool the defensive unit. That’s how you open your forwards, and they can get scoring opportunities.
When he got on the ice for the remaining few seconds of the power play and the rest of his shift, the Habs were able to produce three shot attempts. Granted, the youngster had played a lot of minutes before the start of overtime, but there’s an Olympic break coming, and he’ll have plenty of time to rest. The Canadiens are in must-win mode, and the force that is Hutson should be used whenever possible.
Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.
Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens.
Join the discussion by signing up to the Canadiens' roundtable on The Hockey News.
Subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here.