NHL: Tampa Bay Lightning at Montreal Canadiens
Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

The Montreal Canadiens enjoyed one of their most encouraging outings of the season on Thursday night versus the Pittsburgh Penguins, and it had more to do than just relying on rookie goaltender Jakub Fowler.

Of course, Fowler had a great NHL debut, and we’re not here to take any credit away from the 21-year-old netminder, but the excellent statistics were also driven by a much better outing from the defensive group.

Earlier in the week, we discussed the ongoing issue with Montreal’s defensive pairings. Simply put, the top pairing of Noah Dobson and Mike Matheson was no longer controlling the play, and a change was overdue.

Lo and behold, prior to puck drop, head coach Martin St-Louis decided to finally modify his defensive pairings, by using Dobson alongside phenom Lane Hutson.

In one fell swoop, he addressed one of the most pressing issues among his skaters, while also allowing Hutson to play on the left, which is his natural side.

And the results were beyond encouraging.

Dobson had a much better game, whereas Hutson had a flat-out dominant outing.

Statistically speaking, it was the best game from a Montreal Canadiens player this season, beating the former record holder, who also happened to be Hutson.

Unlocking Hutson’s Potential

We tend to overlook the fact that for the most part, Hutson has played on his offside since joining the Habs.

Some players handle it better than others, but there’s no denying it makes everything a little more complicated. Quick retrievals are a challenge, since defencemen have to use their backhand to corral dump-ins and loose pucks, and outlet passes are a little more complicated, since they have to modify their stance before firing off a 50-foot pass, lest they be forced to use their backhand once again.

Hutson masks these challenges quite well, but it’s also fair to say that he’s yet to really have a chance to find his rhythm while playing on the left side of the ice.

In that vein, you could argue there’s still some untapped potential at play, a terrifying thought for opposing players and goaltenders alike.

Beyond the offensive impact, we should also note that defending is much easier when you play on your natural side.

Defensive positioning is instinctual, rather than reactionary, leading to better coverage, and fewer high-quality scoring chances for opponents.

While Hutson was on the ice at 5v5, the Canadiens managed to keep the Penguins at bay, not allowing them to take a single high-danger shot the entire game.

Consequently, once the dust settled, the Dobson and Hutson combination managed to control 100% of the goals at 5v5 (3-0), 100% of the high-danger chances (7-0), and 78.2% of the expected goals (1.61-0.45).

In other words, the Penguins probably wouldn’t be able to identify Fowler in a police lineup, at least not those who had the unfortunate assignment of facing Hutson.

Montreal Canadiens Brass Tacks

We’re dealing with a very small sample size, and the numbers will change once more data is available, but we can safely say that St-Louis gave Hutson a slightly easier assignment in terms of his defensive partner and his position on the blue line, and the results were, to be perfectly frank, quite predictable.

Hutson can overcome a lot of the disadvantages that come with playing on his offside, but he can truly sprint once he’s unshackled.

To put a fine point on his impact, Sidney Crosby managed to maintain a 50% control of the expected goals while facing Hutson, however, that number jumped all the way to 86% whenever the Penguins managed to avoid using their captain against Montreal’s star defender.

All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.

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By Marc Dumont
Marc has been covering the Habs for over a decade. He previously worked for Journal Metro, The Athletic, The ... More about Marc Dumont

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