{"id":43952,"date":"2026-05-13T20:54:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T20:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/43952\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T20:54:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T20:54:18","slug":"lane-hutsons-unreal-motor-on-full-display-in-montreal-canadiens-playoff-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/43952\/","title":{"rendered":"Lane Hutson’s ‘unreal motor’ on full display in Montreal Canadiens’ playoff run"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2014 Lane Hutson<\/a>\u2019s elevated play hasn\u2019t come as a surprise to those around him.<\/p>\n

The slippery second-year defenceman\u2019s stellar playoff performance for the Montreal Canadiens<\/a> is the product of an obsession that rarely shuts off, something teammate Noah Dobson<\/a> sees every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny chance he gets, he\u2019s doing something involving hockey,\u201d Dobson said from the Canadiens\u2019 dressing room this week. \u201cHe\u2019s back there stick-handling, shooting pucks all day, every day. It\u2019s impressive.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got the love for the game. He\u2019s always working on it and doesn\u2019t seem to get tired, ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hutson is regularly one of the first players on the ice for practice, and even sneaks in skating sessions on Canadiens off days. That includes the holiday break, as Hutson and teammate Ivan Demidov<\/a> played shinny with a group of kids on an outdoor rink in Montreal\u2019s Notre-Dame-de-Gr\u00e2ce neighbourhood this past Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n

As the Canadiens battle the Buffalo Sabres<\/a> in the second round, Hutson is putting that bottomless tank of energy \u2014 and his elite instincts \u2014 on full display for the broader hockey world.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old American seems to pop up everywhere in the series, with Montreal and Buffalo tied 2-2 in their best-of-seven matchup heading into Game 5 on Thursday night in Buffalo.<\/p>\n

Though the Canadiens lost 3-2 in Game 4 at home, Hutson logged a game-high 28:02 of ice time \u2014 more than three minutes above the next closest player \u2014 and picked up an assist to become just the third Canadiens defenceman in the past 30 years to reach the 10-point plateau in a single post-season.<\/p>\n

In Game 3, he expertly took advantage of a stick-less Jordan Greenway<\/a> to set up Cole Caufield<\/a> for a power-play goal. But perhaps the biggest play of the man advantage came moments earlier when he hustled to keep the puck in the zone \u2014 and keep a group of tired penalty killers on the ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you just get a bounce,\u201d said the soft-spoken Hutson, often reluctant to talk about himself. \u201cLuckily I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

But teammate Kaiden Guhle<\/a>, along with everyone watching, knew there was little luck involved with that play.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got an unreal motor, never gets tired. He never gives up on plays,\u201d Guhle said. \u201cHe\u2019s always trying to make an impact in whatever way he can, if it\u2019s making the pass to Cole or keeping that puck in at the blue (line). He\u2019s just got such a high motor and such a high compete level.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what makes him so great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guhle added that effort extends beyond the offensive zone, despite what some might assume given Hutson\u2019s five-foot-nine, 162-pound frame.<\/p>\n

The blueliner has had to prove doubters wrong due to concerns about whether he could defend at his size, falling to 62nd overall in the 2022 NHL draft despite being the highest-scoring defenceman on that season\u2019s U.S. National Development Team.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not just an offensive defenceman. He defends hard and he defends well,\u201d Guhle said. \u201cFor a small guy, I think he\u2019s improved so much at defending.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou watch him in a game, he never gets beat really, rarely, out of the corner. One-on-one battles, he wins all those battles.\u201d<\/p>\n

GOING DOWN EASY<\/p>\n

Buffalo has taken a stunning 25 minor penalties (some offsetting) over the past three games and put the Canadiens on the power play seven times in Tuesday night\u2019s win.<\/p>\n

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff blamed his players for failing the \u201cdiscipline test\u201d in a fiery post-game press conference, but also suggested the Canadiens embellished to draw calls.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a time of year where a player is going to do his best to make whatever call it is seem like it\u2019s almost the end of the world,\u201d Ruff said, pointing to what he considered soft penalties assessed to Tage Thompson<\/a> and Rasmus Dahlin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ruff doubled down Wednesday when asked whether he\u2019d noticed any trends in the Sabres\u2019 penalties.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Montreal\u2019s got a good power play but I think they\u2019re going down easy,\u201d he told reporters, before adding that every team does it. \u201cIt\u2019s part of the playoffs. It just is. You know how important a power play can be … you got to be careful with your sticks. If they have a chance to make the play look worse than it is, they\u2019re going to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis wouldn\u2019t comment on Ruff\u2019s view of things, but said he felt the calls had been fairly even on both sides.<\/p>\n

FREAKISH BOUNCE<\/p>\n

Thompson scored on what seemed like a one-in-a-million chance when his dump-in ricocheted off the stanchion by the Zamboni door and banked in off Jakub Dobes<\/a>\u2019s right leg to tie the game 2-2 on Tuesday. The Canadiens, however, have seen weird bounces from that left corner before.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the first time. We\u2019ve talked about it,\u201d said St. Louis post-game, laughing. \u201cIt\u2019s funny because we talk about it. He got caught because he came out once, and now he doesn\u2019t go out anymore when the puck goes (in the corner). And now I think if he had gone out that time, I don\u2019t think the puck would have gone in. What can you do?\u201d<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2026.<\/p>\n

Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL \u2014 Lane Hutson\u2019s elevated play hasn\u2019t come as a surprise to those around him. The slippery second-year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[50,49],"class_list":{"0":"post-43952","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-montreal","8":"tag-montreal","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}