Are the Canadiens giving too much ice time to Lane Hutson? After tying a record which hadn't been touched in almost 40 years, Montreal Canadiens rookie defensemen Lane Hutson set a new mark tonight. In 1943, Glen Harmon became the first rookie blueliner wearing the Sainte-Flanelle to record points in six consecutive games. 41 years later, in 1984, Chris Chelios did it too, but twice, once in March and once in December. Now, almost 40 years later to the day, Lane Hutson tied the record on Saturday night when he got an assist on Alex Newhook's goal against the Washington Capitals. Tonight, with the Anaheim Ducks visiting the Bell Centre, the young defenseman was hoping to beat the record. While the California outfit is 29th in the standings, it has only given up 76 goals this season, the seventh fewest in the league. The youngster likes a challenge though, and the crowd didn't have to wait for too long to cheer on the new record man. Less than three minutes in, Patrik Laine gave the Canadiens the lead on the power play with helpers from Suzuki and of course, the man of the hour, Hutson. The 20-year-old blueliner is currently leading all Montreal Canadiens' defensemen in points with 19, four in front of veteran Mike Matheson, whose spot on the first power play unit he has taken. He's also second league wide on rookie scoring behind Philadelphia Flyers phenomenon Matvei Michkov. So far, Hutson averages 22:48 time on ice, second only to Matheson who logs an average of 24:19 per game. Kaiden Guhle sits in third place with 21:23, David Savard, who has slowed down this year is at 18:50, Arber Xhekaj at 15:13 and Jayden Struble 15:09 and Justin Barron 15:29 in just 13 games. It's certainly not the last time Hutson finds his way in the Canadiens' record book, the young man looks destined to a very bright future. Follow Karine on X @KarineHains [https://x.com/KarineHains] Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/karinehains.bsky.social] and Threads @karinehains [https://www.threads.net/@karinehains] Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/] for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens
