Dach bounces back, helps Canadiens to OT win in Game 3

MONTREAL -- As the Montreal Canadiens were in their dressing room during intermission preparing for overtime for the third consecutive game, defenseman Lane Hutson, according to several teammates, looked around at them and said, “I’ve got this.”

Just 2:09 into extra time, the 22-year-old backed up his prediction by blasting a slap shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy into the top left corner to give the Canadiens a thrilling 3-2 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round at a raucous Bell Centre on Friday. Hutson’s heroics gave Montreal a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series heading into Game 4 here on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SNE, SNO, SNP, ESPN, The Spot).

Normally, a player calling his shot like that -- no pun intended -- would easily have been the story of the game, a magical ending to a special night.

Except on this grand stage, it would be Canadiens forward Kirby Dach who would get top billing in what truly was an inspiring tale of redemption, a journey that took him from zero to hero in 72 hours.

“I knew he was going to have a great opportunity tonight to feel good about himself,” summed up Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis. “And he took advantage of it.”

The numbers showed just how much he did just that. The 25-year-old had a goal and an assist, including the equalizer that tied the game 2-2 at 12:43 of the second period, and finished the game at plus-3.

Not bad for a guy who was in danger of being a healthy scratch after committing a couple of costly gaffes in overtime of Game 2 that led to J.J. Moser’s winning goal in Tampa Bay’s 3-2 victory in Game 2 on Tuesday.

Dach subsequently was shredded so badly by critics on social media that he canceled his Instagram account. There were calls for St. Louis to banish him to the press box for Game 3, the type of white noise that the Canadiens coach rightly ignored.

Instead, St. Louis said Thursday that the team’s backers should be supportive. Everyone makes mistakes, he added.

The fans obviously heeded his message.

As such, when the Canadiens stepped onto the ice for warmups in a building that already was electric some 35 minutes before puck drop, chants of “Kirby, Kirby” resonated through the entire building.

Down on the ice, Dach tried not to look up in the stands. It didn’t matter. The message was coming through loud and clear.

“Yeah, I didn’t really expect it, so it was nice,” he said. “I mean, the fans have been unbelievable for us all year. And for me, they’ve stuck with me by my side through a lot. So it definitely meant a lot.”

It was all part of the healing process over the previous three days.

“Honestly I felt good,” he said. “I think that Tuesday night, you kind of sit with it dwell on it, understand what you could have done better. But come Wednesday morning you’ve got to move on and get ready for tonight’s game. And that’s kind of where my mindset was.

“I think, as a competitor, you want to bounce back and put your best foot forward. At the same time, we have such a great group of guys here. Everyone was lifting me up and helping me out.”

Including Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki.

“It was really great to see the fans really support him here tonight,” Suzuki said. “And those ‘Kirby’ chants got going in warmups, which would really make him feel good going into the game. I thought it was his best game of the whole season. 

“It’s fun to watch him when he’s going.”

It was pretty much a fun night from start to finish for the capacity crowd of 20,962 inside the arena and the thousands who were just outside at the team’s watch party.

The Canadiens are known throughout the NHL for having one of, if not the best, game night productions in the League, and Friday was no exception. What better and classier way to kick off the first home game of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs than having Yvan Cournoyer, the Hall of Fame forward who won 10 Stanley Cup championships with the Canadiens, carrying a torch into Bell Centre, igniting the type of deafening roar that left plenty of ears ringing?

Three hours later, the volume inside the building was off the charts yet again, this time when Hutson ripped the winner into the Tampa Bay net.

“Yeah, honestly, it might have been my first slap shot all year,” Hutson said. “I saw some space, there were lots of bodies in front, and I was just trying to shoot it as hard as I could. 

“And luckily it went in.”

At the other end of the ice, Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes admitted he didn’t actually see the puck go in.

“I didn’t know where it went,” Dobes said. “I just saw everyone jump. I jumped. Then blacked out for a good two minutes.

“You cannot prepare for what the fans do here. It’s unbelievable. But this is what we work for. And I’m really proud of Lane.”

Much in the same way his coach and teammates were of Dach on this night.