Habs Highlights: Evans On Fire, Hutson Surging, Laine Injury

The Montreal Canadiens were in Columbus on Monday, the last game for both teams before they take a short break during the holidays.

It’s worth noting struggling forward Kirby Dach had his best game in a very long time, but could not score his first goal since December 9, even with multiple prime scoring chances. At the very least, it was a step in the right direction for the 23-year-old centre.

Several other Canadiens players stood out, including Jake Evans, but a slow start ended up being too much to overcome, with the Blue Jackets emerging with a 5-4 win.

Let’s dive into the highlights!

False Start

The Canadiens have done a very good job preparing for games lately, which means they’ve rarely allowed opponents to score the first goal. That being said, the Detroit Red Wings scored first in their last outing, which led to the Canadiens’ second win of the season after their opponents scored first, an encouraging sign for a rebuilding team.

On Monday, the pushback took a little longer than expected, with the Blue Jackets quickly establishing a 2-0 lead. That’s when David Savard scored on his former team, taking advantage of a rebound that handed him a prime scoring chance, which did breathe a little life into the sluggish lineup. Former Hab Jordan Harris returned the favour, scoring on his former team just a few moments later.

feliz Davidad?#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/Z0Mc7Aio8W

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 24, 2024

Shooting Lane

Patrik Laine took a fair amount of punishment in the first period, as his former team was  clearly looking to inflict some pain on the 26-year-old sniper. This led to Laine leaving the game with an upper-body injury after the first period, not to mention the Canadiens losing their best powerplay weapon.

Well, let’s clear that up.

Lane Hutson is the team’s best powerplay weapon. He’s the reason the team is enjoying so much success in the puck movement department, but Laine is clearly still one of the best shooters in the league, as evidenced by his eight powerplay goals in nine games.

As per usual, Hutson was looking to generate a second-chance scoring opportunity, but his point shot deflected on a Blue Jackets stick before making its way to the back of the net, marking Hutson’s second NHL goal.

This is shocking, but Lane Hutson picked up another point.

The rookie scored his second goal of the year vs. Columbus. #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/S5xWyuGoGf

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) December 24, 2024

Not only is Hutson producing a ridiculous amount of offence for a defenceman, he’s keeping pace with all the top rookie forwards in the league when it comes to production. As it stands, Matvei Michkov is the only rookie in the NHL who has more points than Hutson.

Jake The Snake

Speaking of players who are in the midst of a heater, fourth-line centre Jake Evans can’t seem to stop scoring, with goals in three straight games. Avoiding the contract discussion for the time being, it’s hard not to be happy for the former Notre Dame captain. Few players worked harder to make it to the NHL, and even fewer outworked him to stay in the NHL ever since.

You could also argue Evans is essentially the only Canadiens forward who spent significant time in the AHL before enjoying a solid NHL career during Marc Bergevin’s reign. Brendan Gallagher doesn’t count, as he was only in the AHL due to the lock out.

There are many more options coming from the AHL in the last few years, which is encouraging, but regardless, Evans is a success story that has few, if any comparables within the organization.

Look how Evans reads the play as soon as Savard gets the puck

He notices there’s open ice for him to exploit

What’s really stuck out to me is how he’s been processing the game at such a high level this season in transition offensively #GoHabsGo
pic.twitter.com/iyBFrtgFDB

— Cam Weitzman (@Cweitz99) December 24, 2024

Another Fourth-Line Gift

We can’t just praise Evans’ play, because that would be doing a disservice to both Joel Armia and Emil Heineman, who are both playing some of the best hockey of their careers in the last two weeks.

Yes, contracts are up for grabs, but that doesn’t erase the fact that the fourth line has been the team’s best line since mid-December. Armia’s sixth goal of the year gave the Canadiens their first lead of the game, with Evans and Alexandre Carrier providing the assists.

Full marks to Evans for his no look, spin-o-rama pass into the slot, which is all the evidence we need to suggest he’s playing with the utmost confidence.

Despite the solid effort by the Canadiens in the second and third periods, the Blue Jackets quickly responded to Armia’s goal, followed by Kirill Marchenko’s 13th goal of the season, which secured the win for Columbus.

Jake Gretzky Evans with a great pass that finds Joel Armia in the slot. Habs are up 4-3.#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/pcg8aDIm6r

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) December 24, 2024

The Montreal Canadiens will take a few days off to celebrate Christmas, with their next match-up scheduled for December 28, against the Florida Panthers. The puck drop is scheduled for 1 pm ET.

All Montreal Canadiens stats are 5v5 unless otherwise noted. Via Natural Stat Trick.