Hutson shined in the Canadiens’ best defensive game of the season

TORONTO — Before Jacob Dobbs intercepted John Tavares, and before Alexander Tequier pulled off a move — at least all Dennis Heldby saw coming — Lane Hutson completed one of his most dominant performances of the season without hitting the score sheet.

The 20-year-old’s fingerprints were all over the Toronto Maple Leafs in this win for the Montreal Canadiens, and you’d never have found them if you hadn’t dug for them.

Generally, they are unacceptable. The dynamic defenseman is a highlight reel, with his fakes, dunks, spins and passes constantly feeding the hockey algorithm its shorts.

But Hutson doesn’t get as much credit for the simple things he does, for the time and space he steals with his skating and positioning, for the stick checks that enable him to finish off controlled pucks, and for the net-front and corner battles he often wins more than he loses. That was the least of his Calder Trophy-winning season — the one he made history from an offensive standpoint — and it probably hasn’t generated the buzz it deserves through the 27 games the Canadiens have played so far this season.

Do you remember the first one? A 5-2 loss at Scotiabank Arena, followed by Hutson blaming himself for a defensive error he probably didn’t make.

He has turned it into a distant memory with the way he has been played.

The way Hutson played Saturday night marked what coach Martin St. Louis cited as the best defensive effort the Canadiens have had all season.

We weren’t the only ones to notice.

“He competes, he plays bigger than his size, he wins a lot of battles, presents really well, steals pucks,” St. Louis said. “And then, for some reason, he always has gas in the tank to figure out what to do next after he steals a puck, and it’s amazing. He’s fun to watch, fun to coach.”

You can imagine how Hutson’s teammates felt about sharing the ice with him.

But if you can’t, here’s Joraj Slafkowski on the topic.

“He’s unbelievable,” Slafkowski said. “It doesn’t matter how tight he looks; he always pushes back a lot to break up plays. He plays physical and it goes undercover because he’s not a big guy. But he plays so physical. He’s got a big stick and he just seems to win a lot of pucks.”

No player on the Canadiens had more on his stick than Hutson against the Leafs.

Not only did he lead in offensive-zone possessions (1:08), he also had a game-high 12 possessions, according to SportLogiq.

And while it was Nick Suzuki who brought the puck deep into Toronto territory before Cole Caffield scored a power-play goal off Ivan Demidov and Slafkovsky in the ninth minute of the second period, Hutson led the game with 10 controlled entries.

Put it all together—the time of possession, the controlled exits and entries, and the 21 points he scored—and it all starts with strong defense.

None of this has been highlighted in general, but Hutson’s winning streaks over Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk, Winnipeg’s Mark Schaeffel and Toronto’s Austin Matthews over the past week have been impossible to ignore. They are all players who tower over him, but none of them could be as good as they wanted to be when they were with him.

From last season to this one, it was the area of ​​Hutson’s game that needed the most work.

But moments before saying Saturday morning that it was the area of ​​the game he was most comfortable in, a seemingly innocuous response to a question about how he spent his free night in Toronto, Friday only further confirmed the extent to which he is always dedicated to doing what needs to be done.

“(I spent it) just waiting for today,” Hutson said.

Texier, who came to the Canadiens on a one-year deal on Nov. 23, hours after his contract with the St. Louis Blues expired, liked what he saw from Hutson on Saturday against the Leafs and has been impressed with what he’s seen from him every practice day the past two weeks.

“As soon as I got there, I saw him and Demidov on the ice three to four hours a day,” the 26-year-old said. “It’s crazy. They just live hockey, eat hockey. Everything is about hockey.”

“It’s just fun to watch (Hutson). He’s always working on his game, always in the gym.”

As Slafkowski said: “Lean’s motor never stops.”

It was a driving force in this Canadian victory.

They had 3.42 expected goals against Toronto’s 1.99, they spent three more minutes on offense than the Leafs, they outshot the Leafs by 11, they outshot them in the slot 17-11, they had almost twice as many cycle chances, and they went four to eight.

But it was what the Canadians did without a puck that enabled it all.

“I think our defense played tonight the best I’ve ever seen, honestly,” St.Louis said. “We didn’t give them much.”

In nearly 25 minutes of ice time, Hutson barely gave up anything.

This has been the case more often than not since the start of the season, though it has flown under the radar.