The Canadian continues his streak of success in Dallas… and Lane Hutson too

From December 16 to January 16, the Canadian was the best performing team in the entire National League.

It’s hard to say who should be pinched and who should be woken up, but it’s a fact. By winning 3-1 in Dallas on Thursday evening, the Habs collected a 10^e victory in its last 13 matches, at the same time defeating the team which stands out at the top of the best teams in the NHL since December 15.

The Stars had also defeated the CH 2-1 in a shootout last Saturday in Montreal.

No longer any complex inhabits the Canadian, who suddenly has to compete with anyone, anywhere, and it doesn’t matter whether the opponent has taken the lead in the match or not.

It’s crazy how much better they are than last year and two years ago. They are so dangerous. Their power play is excellent. Their top two lines are as good as any team’s. You allow them to gain rhythm and they will make you pay for it.

After stumbling in Chicago in his very first game in 2025 – and again, he dominated the Blackhawks and especially came up against a goaltender in great shape – the Canadian has now collected points in six straight games.

Although it is certainly a collective effort in which everyone participates, with Juraj Slafkovsky, Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook who joined the dance recently, the current sequence seems to have increased the showcase enjoyed by the rookie defender Lane Hutson and positions him more favorably in the race for the Calder Trophy.

He’s a special player, I’ve never really seen anyone capable of making the plays he makesthe San Jose Sharks center told us Macklin Celebrini on the occasion of Combine NHL prospects in early June.

Celebrini, who was the teammate of Hutson at Boston University last season, is probably his main rival for rookie of the year honors.

It could well be that Celebrini makes up for the time he lost due to injury and emerges statistically, but for now it’s Hutson who dominates the scoring rankings among rookies in the circuit. And his contribution is central to the Canadian’s success.

It’s not just the Canadian who has forged a streak of six games with at least one point. Hutson Also. And it’s not his first of the campaign.

Remember in early December when he eclipsed a team mark held by Chris Chelios? Hutson had surpassed his streak of six games with a point, the longest until then by a rookie defenseman in Canadian history.

He could do it a second time, Saturday at the Bell Centre.

Hutson collected one goal and nine assists during these six games, which places him at the top of the Canadian scorers during this period. And the craziest thing is that with now 33 assists in 44 games, Hutson has a chance – if he maintains the same pace – to finish the season with 61 assists, which would be the highest total by a rookie defenseman in National League history.

It’s astonishing.

Only Mike Mathesonhis partner on defense, has played more minutes than him since the start of the season, which illustrates how smooth his transition to NHL hockey has been.

Of course, he sometimes gets caught on the wrong foot and receives penalties, but the number of times in a match where he finds himself in a bad position has decreased significantly since the start of the season.

And, yes, it is true that Martin St-Louis gives him a break by limiting the number of shifts he starts in the defensive zone. But why should it be otherwise?

Since the acquisition of Alexandre Carrier, the CH has the numbers on defense to better separate missions based on the location of the faceoffs. We see the same phenomenon up front, because faceoffs in the offensive zone are largely the business of the first two trios, especially that of Newhook, Roof and Wool.

And it works.

Thursday night, the Stars punted and, on the next faceoff, St. Louis responded with the trio of Roof flanked by Hutson et Matheson at the blue line.

A faceoff won, a point shot from Hutson and a deflection from Newhook: the Canadian had just scored what would prove to be the winning goal.

But hey. We told you that it was a collective effort and that Hutson is not the only one to stand out at the moment. Let us therefore focus on the work of two other architects of this victory in Dallas.

Armia rewarded

At the end of the second period, Carrier broke his stick in front of his team’s net and Joel Armia handed him his so that he could continue to defend. The Finn remained in the game and decided to get physically involved in order to stop the Stars’ offensive threat.

Armia largely dominated both teams with a total of eight hits during the match, and two of them were successful during this impressive presence.

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Still as dominant short of a man in the company of Jake EvansArmia had the kind of defensive performance a team needs to keep a power like the Stars at bay.

The kind of performance that would make anyone want DG to make him sign a new contract.

The 31-year-old winger was rewarded at the end of the match by scoring the insurance goal into an empty net, his 100^e career goal. Armia could also have scored late in the first period on a 2-on-1 run, but he hit the post.

His performances are not always flamboyant, but the average of his matches has been so much more consistent since his dismissal to Laval in the fall of 2023. Like the rest of the team, Armia had a slow start this year, but he quickly brought his game back to a level that made him a luxury fourth-line forward.

Dobes continues to amaze

Four starts, four victories, and barely four goals allowed to the opponent. It’s quite a story that of Jakub Dobeswho seized the opportunity offered to him as the Canadiens’ backup goalkeeper.

The big Czech was perhaps a little more generous in his return shots than in his previous starts, but he held the fort brilliantly, especially when the Stars tried to take control of the game in the second period .

Throughout the match, Beds showed off an extremely lively glove and he had to shine on numerous occasions, including during breakaways from which Logan Stankoven and Wyatt Johnston benefited.

Rather than waiting for two games in two weekend nights, St. Louis gave Beds a start on the road against a top opponent. We can assume that the coach wants to use Samuel Montembeault on Saturday evening at the Bell Center against the Maple Leafs from Toronto. However, using the same goalkeeper for three matches in five days in three different cities perhaps risked stretching the elastic.

The services of Beds do not only serve the Canadian during sequences of two matches in 24 hours. At any time, he can jump into the fray if there is a fear of overtaxing Montembeault and CH still has the confidence that he will be well served.

The team didn’t have that luxury with Cayden Primeau.

Montembeault has played six of the Canadiens’ ten games since the recall of Beds. With Primeau at the end of the bench, he had started the previous ten games.