There are going to be nights like this for a young defenceman breaking into the NHL.
After picking up four assists in the first three games this season, the Canadiens’ Lane Hutson was held off the scoresheet in Monday night’s 6-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Bell Centre. The 20-year-old also had a minus-4 differential after going plus-3 in the first three games.
Hutson got caught up ice when Kris Letang scored at 11:32 of the third period to give the Penguins a 5-3 lead and was on the ice again when Evgeni Malkin scored the final goal into an empty net at 18:50.
“I mean, minus-3 — you add an empty-netter,” Canadiens defenceman Kaiden Guhle said after the game when asked about Hutson’s performance. “It shouldn’t even be a minus anyway (for an empty-net goal). But it happens. They’re a good team … they’re mature.
“He still played great,” Guhle added. “He played 25 minutes. I wouldn’t just look at the plus/minus to kind of judge his game.”
Hutson finished the game with 24:45 of ice time, no shots, one hit and four blocked shots.
On Pittsburgh’s fifth goal, Hutson carried the puck deep into the Penguins zone before throwing it in front of the net, where it was easily picked off. Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky had covered for Hutson at the blue line, but when Slafkovsky pinched in to try and keep the puck in the offensive zone and failed, the Penguins had a three-on-one going the other way against defenceman Mike Matheson with Letang scoring.
Hutson has only played six games with the Canadiens — including two at the end of last season — after spending two years at Boston College and he’s still learning what he can and can’t get away with at the NHL level. His teammates are also learning to play with Hutson and forwards will have to be more aware when they have to cover up for him.
“He’s going to learn as he goes what he can get away with and not,” Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis said after the game when asked about Hutson. “It’s part of learning and we’ll keep having conversations about it. … You got to be careful how you coach those guys. Is this a trend, is this a one-off in terms of his risk-taking? But he plays with a lot of good intentions.”
Hutson has been like a cool wind-up toy you would buy a kid for Christmas since joining the Canadiens and flying all over the ice. The 5-foot-9, 162-pounder excites fans almost every time he touches the puck and there’s a roar at the Bell Centre each time he takes off with it, using his unique variety of spin moves and head fakes. He’s a breath of fresh air on a team that has been starving for offence for several years.
Guhle, 22, is in his third NHL season after playing junior in the WHL with the Prince Albert Raiders and Edmonton Oil Kings. He said weighing the risk/reward factor as a defenceman in the NHL is a learning experience.
“You look at Lane and look at his skill set and see what he did in college,” Guhle said about Hutson, who posted 30-67-97 totals in 77 games during his two seasons at Boston College. “I didn’t watch many of his games, but I can only assume how many times he’s up and down the ice. He’s got great cardio … I mean he’s doing it here. Obviously, he’s great offensively and an unbelievable player, but there’s still that risk/reward and it’s the NHL and there’s good players. That just takes time. Something that I had to figure out, too, and he’ll definitely figure out. I’m not worried in the slightest about that.”
Guhle has also been impressed with Hutson’s defensive play.
“Defensively, I didn’t realize how smart he is,” said Guhle, who is off to a great start this season with 1-3-4 totals and a league-best plus-6 through Monday’s games. “He’s a smaller guy and still has room to grow physically. But I think his brain is next level. He doesn’t put himself in bad spots and he’s got a really good stick.”
Guhle added that St. Louis and assistant coach Stéphane Robidas, who is in charge of the defencemen, are great coaches to work with Hutson.
“They let us play,” Guhle said. “I don’t think any of us young D are really in the position right now without them. They don’t really put pressure on us. They kind of just let us go play. They give us pointers, they give us advice. But they know we’re here for a reason … we’re good hockey players. They’re not trying to make us robots or make us computers. They’re just giving us pieces and letting us go play.”
The Canadiens will be winding Hutson up again Thursday when the Los Angeles Kings visit the Bell Centre (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS).