But spectacular of Huston, Suzuki and his 83 points: the best have been the best

Dose
Crédit:

The Montreal Canadiens did exactly what they had to do last night, which was to win in regulation time against the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Habs didn’t fall into the Flyers’ trap for the second time in two weeks, and thus succeeded in their mission, which was to go get two points against a bad team.

It wasn’t easy, however, as the Habs made their fans wait until the third period to finally find the back of the net.

Seriously, this game was starting to get stressful after two periods with the Habs trailing by a goal.

Luckily, the Canadiens’ best players stepped up, and made sure the Habs would fly to Nashville with two more points in the bank.

And when I talk about the best players who were the best last night, I’m obviously talking about Nick Suzuki and Lane Hutson.

Once again, these two players stepped up to allow the Habs to win.

Hutson took advantage of the crowd’s awakening caused by Brendan Gallagher’s 20th goal of the season to further inflame the Centre Bell with a solo rush from one end to the other, completed by an absolutely hallucinating shot with no angle.

The puck went in and out of the net so quickly that on the spot, many fans didn’t even react, thinking Hutson had hit the post.

This may have been only Hutson’s sixth goal of the season, but I have no doubt that the Habs’ defenseman will score more goals in the future, given that he has an excellent wrist shot.

With this goal, Hutson now has 63 points in 76 games, which puts him just one point away from Chris Chelios’ record for most points by a rookie defenseman with the Habs.

Let’s just say it’s only a matter of time before he breaks the record.

Hutson really has the gift of creating offense out of nothing, and that’s what makes him so special.

Moreover, throughout all this, the Habs’ number 48 is far from being bad defensively, on the contrary, he’s doing more than well.

The proof is that Hutson has the best differential in the entire NHL since the return of the Four Nations break.

Not bad for a supposedly one-dimensional defenseman who’s bad defensively…

As for Suzuki, well, he also stepped up last night, scoring the most important goal of the game, which was the winning goal.

The Habs’ captain made a great solo effort to score a beautiful goal while shorthanded.

If it hadn’t been for that goal, we might not be talking about a Habs win this morning, and especially not in regulation time.

Why?

Because the referees decided to be blind once again, not calling a more than obvious penalty late in the game, when Tyson Foerster sent Jake Evans’ stick flying without being punished.

It was then that same Foerster who scored for the Flyers, finding himself alone in the slot in front of a stickless Evans.

In short, if Suzuki hadn’t given the Habs a cushion, we’d probably be talking about a scandal this morning, as the referees would have clearly cost the Habs a win in regulation time.

Suzuki allowed the Habs to breathe.

Note that the captain scored two points last night, allowing him to ensure that he’ll finish the season with more than a point per game. He has 83 points in 76 games.

This is the first time since 1995-1996 that a Habs center has had at least 82 points.

This is the first time in 17 years that the Habs have a player who scores more than a point per game in a season.

By the way, Suzuki is likely to break Alex Kovalev’s mark of 84 points before the end of the campaign.

In short, the Habs succeeded in their mission last night by winning, and it’s thanks to their best players, who stepped up.

Overtime

– It’s going to be a busy day!

– He really stepped up!

– To be continued.