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Canadiens’ character shines through in overtime win over Rangers
Lane Hutson and the Canadiens were embarrassed on Saturday by their most bitter rivals. So how they responded on Sunday was going to be a massive test of character.
MONTREAL — Lane Hutson drove the play up ice before driving the net and opening the space Juraj Slafkovsky took advantage of to score the goal that made it 4-4 in a game their Montreal Canadiens ended up winning 5-4 in overtime.
By the end of it, the stat sheet said Hutson had one assist and finished minus-1 against the New York Rangers, but that couldn’t have been less representative of his performance.
Because Hutson didn’t just drive up the ice and to the net on that one sequence, he really helped drive the Canadiens to a win that was most revealing of both his and their character.
A night prior, Hutson and the Canadiens were embarrassed at the Bell Centre by one of their most bitter rivals. He was minus-five in a game they held a 3-0 lead in and lost 7-3 to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and how he and they would respond against the Rangers was going to be a massive test of character for all of them.
To see Hutson and the Canadiens pass it with flying colours was impressive.
He played 25:10 and made plays that made you say “wow” on nearly every shift. He was dynamic but calculated in his decision-making, he was alert and exacting with the puck, and he was a dog on a bone without the puck.
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Hutson was also exactly how Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis predicted he’d be after watching him struggle Saturday.
“I know Lane’s a rookie, I don’t think he’s playing like a rookie,” St. Louis then said after Sunday’s performance. “He made a lot of plays tonight. I’m not surprised; Lane’s a hockey player, he’s going to battle, and he went and won some battles in the corners against bigger guys. And Lane is very talented. Lane is about the group. Lane’s not about Lane, and so I’m not surprised.”
He wasn’t shocked, either, about the way the Canadiens found the necessary resilience to pull a win out under such adverse conditions.
This was their third game in four nights, their second in 24 hours, their first in 16 that they didn’t have to travel to play, and it followed a faceplant in front of their fans. Most teams lose under those circumstances, but the Canadiens did what St. Louis expected they’d do.
It’s what they’ve done since early December, and it wasn’t going to be undone by that loss to the Leafs.
Still, to see the Canadiens erase four Ranger leads, to see Arber Xhekaj stand up to—and sit down—Matt Rempe, to see Nick Suzuki immediately pop back up from a crushing hit from Adam Fox and later deliver a key goal on a solo effort, to see Josh Anderson return from what appeared in the moment to be a serious knee injury, to see Jakub Dobes erase two soft goals with two incredible saves in overtime, and to see Hutson dominate so much more than the stat sheet indicated highlighted this team’s character.
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Its maturity was on display, too. As it has been over a 15-6-1 stretch that’s seen them only lose consecutive games once.
“I think we’ve been able to stay sane and just stay process-driven,” St. Louis said. “I think it starts there for our group… They understand where we are in the season, what we’ve gone through, and I think there’s a huge buy-in of how we’re doing things…”
Without it, the character can’t quite shine through the way it has since the Canadiens started the season 8-13-3.
That character was sparkling throughout Sunday’s game, which was incredibly exciting—with the Canadiens generating 68 shot attempts to New York’s 57, and with 33 hits exchanged and haymakers flying between two of the game’s super heavyweights.
The fans were up and down with every lead change, and they were screaming their heads off after Dobes robbed Vincent Trocheck and Artemi Panarin before Patrik Laine brought them up a decibel level with the winning goal.
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“It was sick,” said Xhekaj. “We had a blast.”
The Canadiens earned a rest on Monday.
Their character will have to prevail once again on Tuesday—when the Tampa Bay Lightning visit the Bell Centre—and it’s going to have to carry the Canadiens through the rest of the season, as they push for the playoffs in an extremely competitive Eastern Conference race.
Sunday’s game showed to what extent they possess that element. From Hutson to veteran Brendan Gallagher, who scored a goal and an assist and was named the first star, that character is a feature of this team.
