The Montreal Canadiens once again were on the losing end of a home game in the playoffs, this time by a final score of 3-2 as the Carolina Hurricanes got the overtime win in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final. While there is plenty of blame to go around, Lane Hutson certainly wanted to put a lot of it on himself. The problem is that Hutson was one of the few reasons the Canadiens were even in the game.
From Hutson's perspective, he had an ugly turnover at center ice in overtime that the Hurricanes were able to eventually convert into the game-winning goal. He talked about what he was trying to do after the game, and make a "possession play."
"I tried to make a possession play and saw Suzy [Nick Suzuki] and I didn't want to just pass it to a flat-footed Suzy and them tip it in and just get a free breakout again. So I tried to make a possession play, and it sucks because it ended up going in," Hutson said.
However, it wasn't as if the Hurricanes got the turnover and scored right away. The Canadiens had chances to clear the puck, but Carolina did a good job maintaining control of the puck in the zone.
Montreal Canadiens are not even in the game without Lane Hutson
Based on his post-game comments, there is certainly a level of Hutson trying to take accountability for the loss and the fact that his turnover ultimately led to the game-winning goal. However, when looking at the game as a whole, Hutson would be one of the last players to blame the loss on.
In Game 3, he led the team in even strength with 26:51, which was three minutes more than the next Canadiens skater. He also had the game-tying goal that eventually sent it to overtime when he scored on the power play in the second period after a beautiful give-and-go with Cole Caufield.
Hutson does the little things that make a team successful, like being tied for the team lead in blocked shots with five. Even being on the ice as much as he was, the Hurricanes had only six scoring chances, and that is the second-lowest total among defensemen, according to Natural Stat Trick. Jayden Struble was the only one lower with three, but played 10 fewer minutes than Hutson in Game 3.
Add us as a preferred source on Google