Habs Daily: Lane Hutson At Frozen Four, Suzuki And Slafkovsky

Here are the Montreal Canadiens news, highlights, and stories you may have missed from yesterday.

• Top Montreal Canadiens prospect Lane Hutson scored a goal and an assist in Boston University’s big 6-3 win over RIT at the NCAA’s Frozen Four tournament. This means he matched his production from his rookie season, with 48 points, albeit he did it in three fewer games.

Lane Hutson doing Lane Hutson Things™️ (NCAA Tournament version)

📺: ESPNU
💻: https://t.co/m821oi6jTq (ESPN+) pic.twitter.com/3DX8bPTyAv

— BU Men's Hockey (@TerrierHockey) March 28, 2024

• The CHL playoffs also got underway on Thursday. Canadiens prospect Owen Beck earned three assists in Saginaw’s 6-4 win versus Owen Sound. Fellow Habs prospect Cedrick Guindon scored the opening goal for the Attack.

It's Beck ➡️ Bloom once again!

The @SpiritHockey regain the lead thanks to another snipe from the #Canucks prospect 🎥#OHLPlayoffs | #SAGvsOS pic.twitter.com/PIyIVewHPD

— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) March 28, 2024

• The Habs hosted the 2024 USports National Women’s Hockey Champions, the Concordia Stingers, on Thursday night.

Les championnes nationales de hockey féminin universitaire en 2024 sont dans la place! 🏆

The 2024 U SPORTS national women’s hockey champions @The_Stingers are in the house!#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/psE8dJkojX

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) March 28, 2024

• The only lineup change heading into Thursday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers saw goaltender Cayden Primeau take over netminding duties. [Canadiens Game 72: Goaltender Cayden Primeau To Face Flyers]

• Both Juiraj Slafkovsky and Nick Suzuki played a big part in the Canadiens’ 4-1 win over the Flyers. Primeau also enjoyed yet another solid outing. [Slafkovsky, Suzuki Hit Milestones In Canadiens Win Vs Flyers]

• Slafkovsky extended his point streak to nine games, but the youngest player in the lineup was more interested in discussing Suzuki’s excellent play this season, which includes the 24-year-old setting a career-high in goals (30) and points (69).

“It’s a nice streak but Suzy got 30 so I’m more happy for that.”

– Juraj Slafkovsky on Nick Suzuki scoring his 30th goal pic.twitter.com/cfCWmHnuXM

— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) March 29, 2024

National Hockey Now Network

• Philadelphia Flyers goalie “prospect” Ivan Fedotov is believed to be returning to play for the Flyers. The first logistical obstacle in allowing that to happen is that the NHL will need to unsuspend the final year of Fedotov’s entry-level contract. CSKA Moscow terminated Fedotov’s KHL contract with them earlier on Thursday, and the IIHF had previously sanctioned both CSKA and Fedotov for violating the contract the 27-year-old already signed with the Flyers. [Philadelphia Flyers]

• It’s not that the Pittsburgh Penguins are disappointed, in any way, with what they’ve gotten from Michael Bunting since they acquired him from Carolina in the Jake Guentzel trade. Quite the opposite, actually. They wanted a guy who would go hard to the net and have no qualms about hanging around there. Who not only would venture into high-traffic, high-contact areas but could thrive there. Who could, in the right setting, be counted on to contribute 20 or so goals over the course of a season? [Pittsburgh Penguins]

• It’s safe to say the end of Vitek Vanecek’s tenure with the New Jersey Devils ended poorly. Vanecek went from being the starting goaltender on a 112-point Devils team in 2022-23 to an unreliable netminder who turned in one of the worst goaltending performances thus far in 2023-24. General manager Tom Fitzgerald needed a goaltending solution, and in hindsight, he probably needed to find it sooner. [New Jersey Devils]