Lane Hutson’s three-point night carries Canadiens past Maple Leafs in overtime after Toronto’s second-period surge

A rivalry game that changed direction twice

Montreal owned the first turn. Juraj Slafkovsky opened the scoring at 4:27 of the first period on a tip-in from Luke Mittelstadt and Ethan Samson, and Ivan Demidov doubled the lead at 12:04 with a slap shot created by Hutson. It was a brisk, efficient opening for the Canadiens, who finished the night with a 30-21 edge in shots and a 43-25 advantage in hits. Those totals do not tell every story, but they do fit the larger shape of the game: Montreal put more pucks toward goal and made Toronto absorb more contact over 64 minutes.

Toronto’s best stretch came all at once in the second. Henrik Rybinski cut the deficit to 2-1 at 3:56 on a snap shot off feeds from Ryan Tverberg and Brendan Brisson. Colton Sissons tied it at 8:32 with a tip-in, assisted by Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Easton Cowan. Then Marc Johnstone pushed the Maple Leafs in front at 16:21, finishing a setup from Rybinski and Michael Pezzetta. A game that had looked controlled by Montreal suddenly belonged to Toronto.

That reversal mattered because it showed what the Maple Leafs could be when their attack arrived in waves instead of isolated plays. Toronto also went 2-for-4 on the power play, an important lifeline in a game where it produced only 21 shots overall. But the comeback had an expiration date. After Johnstone’s go-ahead goal, the Leafs did not score again, and the night shifted back to Montreal before the third period was very old.

Hutson took over the finish

The equalizer came 2:43 into the third, and it came from the player who had been stitched into the Canadiens’ best moments all night. Hutson scored on a snap shot with Jared Davidson and Alex Belzile assisting, tying the game 3-3 and erasing Toronto’s second-period work almost immediately. For a defenseman to appear on the first-period insurance goal, the third-period equalizer and the overtime winner is not just a good stat line; it is authorship.

Then came the final touch at 4:22 of overtime. Caufield scored the winner on a snap shot, with Hutson supplying the primary assist and Alexandre Carrier adding the second. Caufield finished with four shots and the decisive goal, but the sequence belonged to Hutson’s vision as much as anyone’s finish. His line for the night — one goal, two assists, plus-2 in 24:50 of ice time — reads like the summary of Montreal’s offense because, in many ways, it was.

The supporting cast filled in the rest of the picture. Slafkovsky and Demidov gave Montreal its early margin. Carrier and Samson each contributed from the back end, and Mittelstadt and Belzile helped turn possession into points. Toronto had answers from Rybinski, Sissons and Johnstone, and Sissons also won nine of 10 faceoffs, but once the game moved beyond that second-period burst, Montreal’s blue-line involvement became the clearest difference.

Our take: the Canadiens were cleaner where it counted

Toronto did some hard things well. The Maple Leafs won 52.6 percent of the faceoffs and blocked 24 shots, compared with just five blocks for Montreal. On another night, that combination might be enough to grind out a road win. Here, it was outweighed by the details that kept giving the Canadiens more turns with the puck. Montreal had 30 shots to Toronto’s 21 and only seven giveaways to Toronto’s 19. That is a large gap in puck management, and it helps explain why Montreal could survive losing a lead and still have enough left to finish the game.

If there is an obvious improvement for Toronto, it starts there. The Leafs did not need a full rebuild of their attack; they scored three times and got two power-play goals. They needed fewer empty possessions. With only three recorded takeaways and 19 giveaways, too much of the night asked them to recover instead of build. The second period proved they had enough finish to threaten Montreal. Sustaining that pressure for longer than one period is the next step suggested by this result.

Montreal, for its part, won without a perfect night. The Canadiens took eight penalties for 22 minutes and lost the faceoff battle at 47.4 percent. Those are the kinds of numbers that can turn a 2-0 start into a long evening, and this one nearly did. Our take is that the Canadiens should leave encouraged by how they reclaimed the game, but mindful that better discipline and cleaner work on draws could keep the next lead from slipping away. On this night, though, their shot advantage, heavier hit count and far safer puck play made the overtime finish feel earned rather than lucky.

Scoring moments

1. 1st · 4:27

   Juraj Slafkovský Goal (1) Tip-In, assists: Luke Mittelstadt (1), Ethan Samson (1)

2. 1st · 12:04

   Ivan Demidov Goal (1) Slap Shot, assists: Lane Hutson (1)

3. 2nd · 3:56

   Henrik Rybinski Goal (1) Snap Shot, assists: Ryan Tverberg (1), Brendan Brisson (1)

4. 2nd · 8:32

   Colton Sissons Goal (1) Tip-In, assists: Oliver Ekman-Larsson (1), Easton Cowan (1)

5. 2nd · 16:21

   Marc Johnstone Goal (1) Snap Shot, assists: Henrik Rybinski (1), Michael Pezzetta (1)

6. 3rd · 2:43

   Lane Hutson Goal (1) Snap Shot, assists: Jared Davidson (1), Alex Belzile (1)

7. OT · 4:22

   Cole Caufield Goal (1) Snap Shot, assists: Lane Hutson (2), Alexandre Carrier (1)