The art of being undefeated in three games against the reigning champions

Let’s just say that Florida won’t want to face Montreal in the playoffs… It’s not going to happen, luckily for Paul Maurice’s team.

As for the standings, the team has the same number of points as the Rangers, but has a game in hand.

The Blue Jackets (75), Islanders, and Red Wings (74) are all very close behind.

The Blue Shirts play twice this week, once against the Wild and once in New Jersey. As for the Canadiens, they play against the Panthers on Tuesday, against Boston on Thursday, against Philadelphia on Saturday, and in Nashville on Sunday. Montreal not only has twice as many games as New York but also more manageable opponents. Martin St-Louis’ team could therefore pull away from the Rangers, yes, but also from the other teams in the race.

Here is the schedule for the Islanders, Blue Jackets, and Red Wings:

• Blue Jackets (Nashville, Colorado, Toronto, Ottawa)
• Islanders (Carolina, tonight, Tampa Bay, Minnesota, and Washington)
• Red Wings (St. Louis, Carolina, and Florida)

The teams behind Montreal in the standings won’t have an easy week, then. It’s time to win and pull away from everyone, once and for all.

Here’s what I also take away from this last game of the trip, which ended well but wasn’t filled with success (1-3-0):

1. Two words: Lane Hutson.

Lane Hutson is not only the best defenseman on the Habs (by far) but also one of the best defensemen in the NHL, period.

Again today, he was on fire, picking up three assists. The one on Nick Suzuki’s goal was masterful.

With this assist, the young defenseman now has 59 points, including 54 assists, in 73 games.

Since 2007-2008, no player in the organization has had more assists than him (and Nick Suzuki).

Do you want more statistics on Hutson, who, after this game, must be the favorite to win the Calder Trophy?

He tied Larry Murphy for second place in history for the number of games with two or more assists in a season among rookie defensemen.

I’m not done yet.

He is also one point away from the 60-point plateau and ninth place (Nicklas Lindstrom) for the most points by a rookie defenseman.

It’s not his defensive partners who make him good, but him who makes his teammates excellent.

2. There’s not just Hutson in life. There’s also Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Juraj Slafkovsky.

Caufield was quiet today, but Suzuki (one goal, two assists, and who has thus equaled his career high in points) and Slaf (one goal and one assist) made their mark on the game. In the case of the Slovak, he was celebrating his 21st birthday. Two points are a nice gift, anyway.

In the second period, on the powerplay, he beat Sergei Bobrovsky at the mouth.

3. Speaking of the powerplay, it clicked today. During the last few games, it was going poorly, but today, Montreal found the back of the net twice (in three attempts).

There was Slaf’s goal, but also this one by Patrik Laine:

15 of his 19 goals this season have been scored with a man advantage.

19 goals in 43 games, that’s really not bad. If he had played all the team’s games, he would be on pace to score 36 goals.

The Finnish player also demonstrated that sometimes, he can deceive the opposing defense with his skate kick.

4. Despite a weak goal conceded to Seth Jones in the second period, Samuel Montembeault rebounded well in the third, stopping all shots directed at him.

He finished the game with 24 saves on 26 shots (.923). Like his team, he saved the trip.

We’ll need him on Tuesday against these same Panthers…

5. Let’s talk about Tuesday’s game. We can expect a lot of intensity, given how the game ended.

In the final minutes, defenseman Niko Mikkola decided to be stupid and shoot a slapshot from his own zone, down by two goals. The guys didn’t appreciate the gesture at all.

On Tuesday, let’s hope Arber Xhekaj will be back in the lineup and animate the crowd with a little dance with Mikkola.

The Habs’ defenseman wasn’t in the lineup this afternoon, and many were wondering why he wasn’t used at forward. After all, he can’t do worse than Michael Pezzetta…

I like the idea, but with so few games left in the season, I don’t think a position change is ideal in the circumstances. Will MSL use the 11-7 formula? Will Pezz stay in the lineup? Will Xhekaj and Roy see action?

To be continued.

Montreal won’t be overtaken in the standings before their next game.