Lane Hutson wins Game 3 in OT but refs steal the show

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Cimon Asselin
April 24, 2026  (10:27 PM)

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Photo credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

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 Fran�ois 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.

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.

Previously

Oilers suffer late lineup blow before pivotal Game 3 in Anaheim

Kirby Dach silences the noise with a clutch goal in Game 3

Police called as Canadiens playoff crowd erupts outside Centre Bell

POLL
AVRIL 24   |   201 ANSWERS Lane Hutson wins Game 3 in OT but refs steal the show Did the referees cost Montreal a fair shot in Game 3?
Yes	155	77.1 %
No	46	22.9 %
LIST OF POLLS

À LIRE

Il y a 58 minutes  |  Par Patrick Dragon Changement d'horaire annoncé avant le match entre le Canadien et les Sabres

Il y a 1 heure  |  Par Patrick Dragon Renaud Lavoie brise le silence face à la vague d'amour qu'il a reçue

Il y a 2 heures  |  Par William Nadeau Jakub Dobes reçoit une mauvaise nouvelle avant le match contre les Sabres

Il y a 4 heures  |  Par William Nadeau Triste nouvelle pour Arber Xhekaj et ça confirme ce qu'on craignait

Il y a 13 heures  |  Par Patrick Dragon Ce que Martin St-Louis a fait à l’entraînement ce matin n’est pas passé inaperçu

Il y a 16 heures  |  Par William Nadeau Le salaire inattendu de Martin St-Louis avec le Canadien est confirmé et c'est du jamais vu dans la LNH

Il y a 17 heures  |  Par William Nadeau Gavin McKenna révèle l’équipe de la LNH pour laquelle il rêve de jouer

Il y a 18 heures  |  Par Patrick Dragon Ça vient d’être confirmé par Martin St-Louis pour Arber Xhekaj avant le match contre les Sabres

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