Before Monday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Lane Hutson had still not tasted victory in a tricolor uniform since arriving in Montreal. The small defenseman’s record was zero wins, one loss in regulation time and three overtime losses.
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He can now breathe better. A decisive 5-0 victory in which he was named the first star is reassuring for him. He seemed very happy with the outcome after the match.
“I finally won with this jersey,” Hutson told the media moments after the victory. “It’s always special to win games, but even more so to finally get my first win here.”
The 5’10”, 162 lbs. defenseman had another strong game in a Canadiens uniform. He made his mark several times by carrying the puck into enemy territory and making several precise passes to create scoring chances. He finally finished the game with an assist on his blue-line partner David Savard’s goal.
Still, he was caught off-guard a few times during the game, including once in the first period. During that stretch, he was beaten by Anthony Richard and was penalized for high sticking while trying to catch him.
“I have to continue to learn the speed of the game. A few times, I got caught in difficult situations and I was in a race for the puck. But that’s part of the learning process and it’s a good thing that it happened in a preseason game,” the 20-year-old rearguard admitted candidly.
Hutson is not expected to be in uniform for the Canadiens’ second preseason game on Tuesday night against the New Jersey Devils.
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