For over a decade, the Montreal Canadiens have been winless against the Minnesota Wild on the road. That didn’t change on Thursday night, as the Wild blanked the Habs 3-0 to keep the absurdly long streak alive. This was nowhere close to one of the worst Montreal performances in recent memory, but it was disappointing to see them play reasonably well, and still fail to find a single goal.
Of particular frustration was watching Lane Hutson dance around and create scoring chances, without the Habs being able to finish them.
This was quite the individual display from Hutson, and while the end result leaves something to be desired, you can’t deny the skill it took to create this chance. That being said, the bigger concern here is the fact that this turn-and-shoot effort was his only option. His shot isn’t known as a strength, and yet he’s basically left with that as his only option.
Not one Habs player on the ice thought it prudent to be anywhere near the middle of the ice for this.
If a single player had thought to get to the back post, the slot, or even the high slot, this would have been a more dangerous chance. Nick Suzuki is creeping into the high slot, but he’s basically at the point when Hutson comes around the net. Kirby Dach and Juraj Slafkovsky are at opposite outside hash marks. The entire top line just decided to spread out around the perimeter, while Hutson forced the entire Wild lineup to collapse into the middle.
Someone getting to the middle or the back post would have given Hutson some options, or at least forced the goaltender to worry about a pass instead of being able to just set up for the shot. It’s a decent chance, but Hutson’s best option is the shot that the goaltender was easily able to anticipate.
Later in the game, he put a perfect pass in the wheelhouse for Alex Newhook, who shanked it off the heel of his blade and into the corner. This has been an all too common thread this season – Hutson manufacturing scoring chances out of seemingly innocuous plays, but nobody can finish them. This should improve when Ivan Demidov joins the Habs, but we can’t expect him alone to start finishing these plays.
The Habs have a high-danger chance machine in Lane Hutson, and they need to be better at cashing in on some of them.
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