Lane Hutson wins Game 3 in OT but refs steal the show
Lane Hutson scored the overtime winner Friday night at the Bell Centre to give the Montreal Canadiens a 3-2 victory over Tampa Bay and a 2-1 series lead, but the bigger story walked off the ice in a striped jersey.
The Canadiens outshot the Lightning 29-17 and controlled most of the game at even strength.
Didn't matter. The crowd of 21,000 was already seething long before Hutson's slapper ended it.
The controversy started in the second period, before Brandon Hagel's unassisted goal that tied it 2-1. Seconds before the puck hit the net, Jake Evans took a clear hit from behind, right in the numbers.
Nothing was called. The goal stood.
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RDS journalist François Gagnon said it plainly on X: Sabourin should have been penalized for a hit from behind before that Lightning goal. His post timestamped 8:23 PM, April 24, 2026.
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The refs called Kirby Dach for tripping instead. The Hockey News journalist Karine Hains described the infraction as a "Stutzle special," meaning Dach got two minutes on a dive.
Missed calls and Kucherov hypocrisy frustrate Canadiens fans again
That's on top of Nikita Kucherov getting a free pass in Game 2 for what multiple reporters flagged as a blatant dive. Same series, two different standards.
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Tampa went 1-for-5 on the power play. Montreal went 0-for-4. The Canadiens were basically handing the Lightning a fifth of the game to work with.
And yet Martin St-Louis's group found a way.
Slafkovsky is the one who had been carrying the power play before tonight, with all 3 of his playoff goals coming on the man advantage in the first two games. He went held scoreless Friday but the Canadiens still got a power play goal from Dach to tie it 2-2 in the second.
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Hutson has been the engine on the blue line all series. He finished with 2 points in 2 playoff games heading into tonight, and his Game 3 OT winner was the kind of moment that defines young defencemen in the playoffs.
At 22, on a $950,000 cap hit, he just won a playoff game on a slapshot in overtime. Jon Cooper has to figure that out.
The series shifts for Game 4 back at the Bell Centre on Sunday, and the Canadiens now have two cracks at home to push toward a close-out position.
The officiating question is going nowhere fast. If the pattern holds and the called dives keep running one direction, this fanbase will not stay quiet about it.
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APRIL 26, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Bowen Byram | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Josh Doan | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Peyton Krebs | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alex Tuch | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Zach Benson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sean Kuraly | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nathan MacKinnon | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Beck Malenstyn | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Greenway | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nazem Kadri | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Tyson Kozak | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Gabriel Landeskog | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ryan McLeod | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Owen Power | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Quinn | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Tage Thompson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Michael Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Viktor Arvidsson | - | - | - | |
| Jonathan Aspirot | - | - | - | |
| Nick Blankenburg | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||
| 2025-2026 NHL STANDINGS | ||||||
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Sabres | 82 | 50 | 23 | 9 | 109 | |
| Lightning | 82 | 50 | 26 | 6 | 106 | |
| Canadiens | 82 | 48 | 24 | 10 | 106 | |
| Bruins | 82 | 45 | 27 | 10 | 100 | |
| Senators | 82 | 44 | 27 | 11 | 99 | |
| Red Wings | 82 | 41 | 31 | 10 | 92 | |
| Panthers | 82 | 40 | 38 | 4 | 84 | |
| Maple Leafs | 82 | 32 | 36 | 14 | 78 | |
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Hurricanes | 82 | 53 | 22 | 7 | 113 | |
| Penguins | 82 | 41 | 25 | 16 | 98 | |
| Flyers | 82 | 43 | 27 | 12 | 98 | |
| Capitals | 82 | 43 | 30 | 9 | 95 | |
| Blue Jackets | 82 | 40 | 30 | 12 | 92 | |
| Islanders | 82 | 43 | 34 | 5 | 91 | |
| Devils | 82 | 42 | 37 | 3 | 87 | |
| Rangers | 82 | 34 | 39 | 9 | 77 | |
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Avalanche | 82 | 55 | 16 | 11 | 121 | |
| Stars | 82 | 50 | 20 | 12 | 112 | |
| Wild | 82 | 46 | 24 | 12 | 104 | |
| Mammoth | 82 | 43 | 33 | 6 | 92 | |
| Blues | 82 | 37 | 33 | 12 | 86 | |
| Predators | 82 | 38 | 34 | 10 | 86 | |
| Jets | 82 | 35 | 35 | 12 | 82 | |
| Blackhawks | 82 | 29 | 39 | 14 | 72 | |
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Golden Knights | 82 | 39 | 26 | 17 | 95 | |
| Oilers | 82 | 41 | 30 | 11 | 93 | |
| Ducks | 82 | 43 | 33 | 6 | 92 | |
| Kings | 82 | 35 | 27 | 20 | 90 | |
| Sharks | 82 | 39 | 35 | 8 | 86 | |
| Kraken | 82 | 34 | 37 | 11 | 79 | |
| Flames | 82 | 34 | 39 | 9 | 77 | |
| Canucks | 82 | 25 | 49 | 8 | 58 | |
COMPLETE STANDINGS | ||||||