Lane Hutson has taken full responsibility for his turnover that led to the Montreal Canadiens’ 3-2 overtime defeat against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 3.
The Canadiens now trail the best-of-7 series 2-1.
Hutson’s Turnover Costs Canadiens
Hutson repeatedly blamed himself after the match. The Canadiens defenseman said that it was his unforced turnover that eventually led to Andrei Svechnikov’s goal at 14:06 of overtime.
“It would be nice to be up 2-1, but we’re not because of me,” Hutson said. “It’s frustrating.”
Montreal coach Martin St. Louis commented on the play. “Yeah, I mean, I didn’t love the play, but whatever,” St. Louis said. “It’s what’s next and we didn’t do what’s next. We didn’t get the job done.”
Breakdown of the Decisive Play
The sequence began when Carolina’s Mark Jankowski flipped the puck into the Canadiens zone from the red line, forcing Hutson to retrieve it. Hutson got the puck and wheeled around Montreal’s net, head up.
Hutson spotted captain Nick Suzuki up the ice on the left side at Carolina’s blue line but opted against passing to him.
“I’m trying to make a possession play,” Hutson said. “I saw ‘Suzy’ and I didn’t want to just pass it to a flat-footed ‘Suzy,’ have them tip it in and just get a free breakout again. So, I tried to make a possession play.”
Hutson’s attempted lateral pass toward Juraj Slafkovsky fell short, intercepted by Svechnikov in the neutral zone. Svechnikov drove to the net, splitting Hutson and defenseman Noah Dobson.
The puck went to the right corner, where Svechnikov retrieved it, before passing across to Seth Jarvis. Hutson skated toward Jarvis, but could not prevent the pass back to Svechnikov, who scored with a wrist shot.
Sebastian Aho outmuscled Slafkovsky in front, and the puck went into the net off a body for the game-winning goal.
Regret for Dobes
Hutson expressed feeling particularly bad for goalie Jakub Dobes. Dobes made 36 saves. Hutson said, “He battles so hard. Sucks that I just blew it for him, but it is what it is.”
Hutson will have a chance to make amends in Game 4 on Wednesday.
“We definitely have another level,” Hutson said.