The Montreal Canadiens were in Winnipeg on Saturday night to face the Jets, the top team in the NHL.
Of course, no one expects the Habs to dominate versus a team of their calibre, but an honest effort is expected nonetheless, especially after Thursday’s meltdown versus the Pittsburgh Penguins.
They played much better against the Jets, but a lack of discipline, not to mention a fantastic performance by Connor Hellebuyck, led to a 4-2 win for Winnipeg.
Let’s dive into the highlights!
Hutson Is Inevitable
Much had been made about Lane Hutson’s production to start his career, and if we’re being honest, worrying about a lack of goals was essentially making a mountain out of a molehill, as he is one of the highest scoring rookies in the league.
If you’ve followed our extensive coverage of Hutson’s time in the NCAA, you know that the main reason he scored so many goals for the Boston University Eagles was because the goalies he was facing were far from elite. On most of those goal-scoring plays, Hutson opened up a lane and fired a quick shot down low, hoping to generate a rebound for his teammates. It was his pre-shot movement that confused opponents, forcing them to reset, leading to vulnerable goaltenders.
NHL goalies are a little calmer, and usually bigger, which means they tend to stop more shots from the point. We probably shouldn’t expect Hutson to score 20 goals any time soon, especially since his bread and butter is found in the assist column.
Regardless, the good news is that Hutson did indeed score his first NHL goal, and it happened to take place against one of the best goaltenders in the NHL, Connor Hellebuyck. With the goal in the bank, Hutson now has 20 points in his first 30 NHL games.
We should note that Hutson, as well as Patrik Laine, probably deserved to leave Winnipeg with a few more points to their credit, but Hellebucyk was great, as per usual.
Is This A Rerun?
Scoring the opening goal of the game is great, but it means very little in the grand scheme of things if the Canadiens allow their opponents to take over the game, as they did against the Penguins.
Montreal almost held the fort for the first period, but as per tradition, their eternal lack of discipline came to the forefront. Gab Vilardi scored shortly after Kirby Dach took a useless penalty in the offensive zone. The momentum swung firmly in Winnipeg’s end, as evidenced by Adam Lowry’s eighth goal of the year shortly afterward.
Not to be outdone by Dach, Cole Caufield and Christian Dvorak took back-to-back penalties early in the second period, giving the most potent offence in the NHL an opportunity to put the game out of reach during the extended 5-on-3. Winnipeg doesn’t need help scoring, but the Canadiens were in a generous mood, and paved the way for them anyhow, the hockey equivalent of a three-legged sloth giving a cheetah a head start in a 100-meter sprint.
Mister Anderson
Fortunately for Martin St-Louis’ team, rather than imploding like a dying star that will never shine again, they showed a little mettle, with the third line leading the charge.
The play itself was a nothingburger until the Habs put together a very solid forecheck, forcing the Jets to cough up the puck rather than easily exiting the zone.
It was Josh Anderson’s first goal in 12 games, with important assists to both Christian Dvorak and Brendan Gallagher. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late, as the Jets managed to hold onto their fragile one-goal lead despite a lot of pressure in the dying minutes of the third period. An empty-net goal by the Jets with less than 10 seconds left on the clock sealed Montreal’s fate.
The Montreal Canadiens are back in action on Tuesday. They will host the Buffalo Sabres, with the puck drop scheduled for 7 pm ET. All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.
