Canadian 4 – Red Wings 5 ​​(P) | The hard lessons of the first night

(Detroit) Of the many goals scored on deflections or scrums in front of the net, the trick to identifying the scorer is to look at who is the first player who goes to the bench to receive the high-fives from his teammates.

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Except that in rare exceptions, it is not the author of the goal who goes there first. Like Monday, when Brendan Gallagher opened the scoring in the fifth minute. Rather than number 11, it was number 48 who headed towards the bench, not without Gallagher summoning him to do so. After all, Lane Hutson had just obtained, in only his second appearance in the National League, his first point.

“It was much more meaningful for him than for me. So it was up to him to go there, enjoy the moment,” Gallagher said.

Despite the Canadian’s 5-4 overtime defeat against the Detroit Red Wings, there was a certain optimism in the locker room. Since hearing about it, players have finally seen Hutson in the flesh. We cling to the future when the present is without hope, as is the case in this third season in a row which ends with many matches without stakes. And Hutson embodies part of that future.

His play on Gallagher’s goal, the way he danced on the blue line while using his shoulders to confuse the opponent, was exactly the type of play we saw repeatedly in the highlights from Boston University.

In fact, Hutson delivered what was expected of him. His offensive flashes are obvious; he almost concluded his baptism in the NHL by scoring the winning goal, but Alex Lyon blocked his shot. It was his only shot of the match, in 21:54 in the box.

He finished the match at -1. The two goals scored when he was on the ice: the victory on the counter-attack after his shot, 3 on 3, and another on which he was slow to react before coming to help his partner, David Savard, around the net. If his offensive flair has never been in doubt, it is in defensive territory that he will have to silence his detractors. These discussions seem to follow, rightly or wrongly, the defenders of this style.

Defensively, Hutson “was correct,” judged Martin St-Louis, recalling that he did not expect the new kid to understand the CH defensive system from the first evening. “We’ve been talking about it for 80 games. He gets there, it won’t be perfect. His intentions were great. I didn’t think we were vulnerable when he was there. He played a good match. »

Hutson also showed a good understanding of what his teammates transmit to him. During the first commercial break, for example, he was part of a long huddle with Savard and the members of Jake Evans’ line to plan a play. The plan worked when Evans won the faceoff, and Hutson served a precise pass to Evans, who completely missed his one-timer.

“I have to execute better. He doesn’t know me well yet, he doesn’t know that I’m not the shooter on the team!, Evans joked. We laughed about it. But he played a great game.”

Defeats

That said, in less fun apprenticeships, Hutson noted that no advance is guaranteed with this Canadian from 2023-2024. The team even led 4-1 with less than five minutes to play in the middle period, but the Wings, who were fighting for survival, chipped away at the lead little by little. For him who comes from a club which has won 71% of its matches in two years, there will be an adjustment.

Since the start of the season, the Habs have struggled to win half of their matches when they lead after a period (15-5-8). The observation is better when he leads after 40 minutes (21-0-4), but the fact remains that collapses like those of Monday can torpedo good evenings of work.

St-Louis, however, was not going to vilify its men in public. What could they have done to avoid breathing life into a rather subdued Little Caesars Arena in the first 35 minutes?

“It would have been fun to maybe have a numerical advantage,” he suggested. We didn’t get any calls tonight. You’re up by three, their season is on the line, they’re starting to have a push, they’re doing things that wouldn’t be done in a close game. It’s part of the process. In the future, we will be in more of these situations. »

Gallagher was more critical. “They were sure to be starving. It’s not necessarily about playing with the same desperation as them, because we want to respect our style and we did it well at the start of the match. It’s understanding how to protect the lead. You have to manage the risk, but you still have to apply pressure. They entered our zone too easily and that’s where they are dangerous. »

“We have to correct the mistakes,” continued the veteran. We do good things, but it would be nice to have rewards. »

Hutson just spent two years getting those accolades most of the time, whether at Boston University or the World Junior Championship. It remains to be seen whether the Habs’ recovery plan will work quickly enough for them to quickly start getting them again in the NHL.