MONTREAL — It wasn’t all Lane Hutson’s fault, but it didn’t matter.
What mattered was that he wouldn’t let himself off the hook for his mistake.
Hutson may be only 22 years old. He may still only be a kid in the eyes of many. But it’s with actions like these that he carries himself as a man.
For as understated as Hutson is, what’s most impressive about him off the ice is that he carries himself as the man. And while he may be seen on the outside as a young player who’s too harsh with himself at times, he’s seen by the Canadiens as a player who’s exactly who he needs to be with himself at all times.
“Those superstar players, you know they challenge themselves and they have high expectations,” said Joe Veleno. “Good is never good enough for them. He’s one of those guys who always demands more and always wants more. You like to see that especially with the culture that’s been built here. And the mindset that he has, the leadership, everyone sees that and gets attached to that mindset, so that’s just the kind of person he is.”
He’s the person the Canadiens must use as a compass to even this series in Game 4 against the Carolina Hurricanes (8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT, Sportsnet, Sportsnet+).
For four days, after each of their last two losses, the Canadiens have been (rightfully) praising their opponents in this Eastern Conference Final.
“They’re a team that sometimes feels like they have six players on the ice,” said Veleno, and considering how much pressure the Hurricanes have applied on the Canadiens, that’s what it’s looked like.
But it’s time for several players on the Canadiens to respond.
Some of them need a good, long look in the mirror.
If Alex Texier, Kirby Dach and Noah Dobson aren’t looking in one after reviewing the tape from Game 3, that’ll bode poorly for the Canadiens come Game 4. They didn’t bring efforts on par with some of their better ones of these playoffs, and they can’t repeat that in Game 4.
And while Kaiden Guhle and Alex Carrier never need a mirror (because they’re never short on effort), they didn’t perform anywhere near their own high standards in Game 3 and must review that before Game 4.
Both players know, just as Hutson does, that good isn’t good enough. Especially not at this stage of the playoffs.
“I think my role and Carsy’s role, too, is defend hard and try to be hard against those top guys, and defence-first mentality, and I think that’s something that myself, especially last game, I have to do a better job at,” said Guhle on Tuesday. “And I think when that stuff’s not really going, you just gotta go back to the basics and it’s just defend hard and simple. I think last night trying to do too much a little bit at times and got myself in trouble. So, it’s just — simple; keep it simple, back to kind of your roots (of) playing hard and defending well.”
“When things aren’t going well, pretty much I was gonna say what he said: Go back to basics and just keep it simple,” added Carrier. “But it always starts with work ethic. You gotta have that to have success. And then when you struggle after you have this, then it’s just adjustments and really, like, ‘What are my strengths? What do I bring to the team?’ And then you gotta do that shift after shift.”
That’s what the Canadiens need from everyone against this formidable and confident opponent.
They need more intensity from Texier, Dach and Dobson, and they need better performances out of Guhle and Carrier.
Nick Suzuki and Jake Evans, who have played great throughout these playoffs, were just good in Game 3, and good won’t get it done against the Hurricanes.
“It starts with the individual,” said coach Martin St. Louis. “I don’t think everyone was at their best, and you’re going to get that. I don’t think you need everyone at their best to win a game, but the more you advance, the deeper you go, you need the vast majority at their best.
“We’re trying to get that every night.”
The Canadiens need it most Wednesday night and are guaranteed to get it from Hutson.
“It would be nice to be up 2-1, but we’re not because of me,” he said after Monday’s loss, and it didn’t matter if it was true.
What mattered was Hutson feeding his own belief that he can make a difference in every game.
He will stop at nothing to deliver the Canadiens the win they need right now.
Every other player on the team should follow Hutson’s lead on that in Game 4.
On what to expect Wednesday…
“I expect us to show up,” said St. Louis. “We’re behind, but we’re not dead. We continue.”
On the Canadiens’ youth versus the experience of the Hurricanes…
“I don’t know about that part because we’re getting a little bit ahead of ourselves. It’s 2-1 right now, and it could easily be either way. We know that (with) two overtime games,” said Rod Brind’Amour. “But, obviously they’re a really young team, and we had younger players at a time — we’re still a young team, I feel, we’ve got some of our best players that are just figuring it out. But, yes, they’re obviously a team that’s just hitting their beginning stages of what they’re going to become, and they’re going to be in this for many, many years.”
On the Canadiens’ need to bring more maturity…
“I think we’re focusing on, and I think we’ve done that all year, we stress, we’re trying to steer players to just play the game that’s in front of us,” said St. Louis. “We have all the tools. We can play in possession, we can go forecheck, and sometimes we can see clearly through that chaos of this environment and where we are in the playoffs. I think that comes with maturity… We’ve shown great maturity throughout the season. We’re playing a very mature team. I don’t know if we can match that maturity, but I think we need to elevate ours a little bit, and I feel we have all the tools.”
On the Hurricanes’ maturity…
“When I say (the Hurricanes are) mature in the way they play, it’s playing for the team,” said Brind’Amour. “We’ve got a lot of really high-end players that I think play that way, that understand that’s not the time to try something that might work, but then maybe it doesn’t and then it ends up costing you. So, that’s maturity in your game. The older guys get it because they’ve heard it enough and they’ve been through it. The younger guys on our team are starting to appreciate that more, too. I think they accept, and obviously it’s showing I think.”
On what the Canadiens look like when they’re connected…
“There’s a lot of balance on the ice in terms of the separation between players,” said St. Louis. “There’s balance and there’s execution through that. The puck is moving fast, we look fast, and it’s not necessarily because we’re skating so fast, but just we’re playing a pace of execution that we look fast.”
On whether the Hurricanes feel they’re wearing the Canadiens down…
“I’d love to look at it that way if I could. I don’t think that’s the case,” said Brind’Amour. “We don’t really focus much on that. These three games are done. What about the next game? How do we keep playing our game or get to our game? It’s a little bit less on what they’re doing. We need to maintain a level of play. Obviously, you want to wear your opponent down. That’s part of playoff hockey. Both teams are trying to do the same, everybody has that mindset.”