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The Montreal Canadiens faced a tough 6-3 loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night. Rookie defenseman Lane Hutson, 20, had a difficult game, finishing with a -4 plus/minus rating and failing to record a point or even a shot.
After the game, Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis discussed Hutson's performance.
“That's part of it. He's going to learn as he goes what he can get away with and not. You know it's part of his learning. We'll keep having conversations about it, but some of those players have to learn what he can get away with,” St. Louis said.
When asked if this was a trend or a one-off in terms of Hutson's risk-taking, St. Louis replied:
“No that's what I mean. You gotta be careful how you coach those guys, you know. Is this a trend? Is this a one-off like in terms of his risk taking or, you know, but he plays with a lot of good intentions.”
St. Louis was also asked about his decision to switch up the defensive pairings in the second period.
“I mean there's different factors that go into it. ...It's just a feeling that you get from you know the way your team's playing or the way they're playing together,” he explained.
For the Penguins, Lars Eller scored twice, while Kevin Hayes, Kris Letang, Rickard Rakell and Evgeni Malkin added goals.
Kaiden Guhle, Emil Heineman and Juraj Slafkovsky scored for the Canadiens. Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry made 24 saves for the win, while Sam Montembeault stopped 25 shots for Montreal.
Martin St. Louis on Canadiens giving up rushes against the Penguins
When asked about the main reason the Canadiens gave up so many rushes against the Penguins, Martin St. Louis said he would need to review the game tape to fully analyze when and why they occurred.
St. Louis doesn't recall giving up many rushes in the third period when they were down just one goal. He explained that a team's risk-taking naturally increases when chasing a game in the third period.
St. Louis said some added risk is necessary if you want to come back and win when down two goals.
“I think it's hard to come back in the game. So, you know, and with the risk that you take, if you don't execute, it usually means rush the other way, so I'm sure we have to be a little more calculated.”
Overall, St. Louis made clear that some risky play is expected when trailing late, but it needs to be smart risk-taking, or else it can backfire and result in dangerous scoring chances for the opponent.
The Canadiens next face the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night at home.
