Canadiens most to blame after crushing Game 3 OT loss to Hurricanes

The Montreal Canadiens had a chance to take a 2-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference Final on home ice at Bell Centre. Instead, they let it slip away in overtime, falling 3-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes in a Game 3 collapse that will sting for a long time.

Andrei Svechnikov scored at 14:06 of overtime to give Carolina the win and a commanding 2-1 series lead. It was the Hurricanes’ fifth straight overtime victory of the 2026 playoffs, they are a perfect 5-0 in extra time this postseason.

SVECH WINS IT IN OVERTIME, BACK TO BACK OT WINS FOR THE CANES WHO GO UP 2-1!!!! pic.twitter.com/RA1NiyU1bU

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 26, 2026

For the Canadiens, this was a gut punch they didn’t have to take. Let’s break down who deserves the most blame.

Lane Hutson’s Costly Turnover Dooms Montreal

This one starts and ends with Lane Hutson. The young defenseman didn’t just have a bad game, he handed Carolina the series lead with one of the most avoidable turnovers of the entire playoffs.

With 6:13 left in overtime, Hurricanes forward Mark Jankowski flipped a puck into the Montreal zone, sending Hutson back to retrieve it behind his own net. He wheeled around with the puck, saw Nick Suzuki on the left side at Carolina’s blue line, but decided against the pass. Instead, Hutson tried a lateral possession pass toward Juraj Slafkovsky, a soft, underpowered feed that Svechnikov intercepted effortlessly in the neutral zone. Twelve seconds later, the puck was in the net and the Canadiens’ season was on the brink.

To his credit, Hutson fell on his sword immediately. “It would be nice to be up 2-1, but we’re not because of me,” he told reporters after the game. That accountability is admirable. But accountability doesn’t change the scoreboard. In overtime playoff hockey, when the margin for error is zero, a casual lateral pass in your own zone is simply unacceptable from a player of Hutson’s caliber.

A Team-Wide Offensive Disappearing Act

Hutson’s turnover was the headline, but the real story is that the Canadiens’ offense vanished when it mattered most. Montreal was outshot 38-13 over the full game, including an alarming 15-5 in the first period when Carolina built its 2-1 lead. The Habs registered just 12 total shots across the entire game, and in overtime, they didn’t register a single shot on net.

Let that sink in. Montreal went 24 straight minutes without a shot on goal, from late in the third period through the entirety of overtime. Nick Suzuki had the most glaring miss of the period when he couldn’t convert a breakaway, and Mike Matheson clanged one off the crossbar. The Canadiens had their chances, but when Carolina dominated possession at 5-0 in OT shots midway through overtime, it became clear that Montreal’s forwards simply couldn’t generate enough to compete in a game decided in extra time. Cole Caufield, so dynamic in the regular season, had another quiet night without a goal when the team needed him most.

Martin St. Louis and the Zone Exit Problem

Coach Martin St. Louis has built something special in Montreal, but his team’s inability to manage puck exits out of their own zone in overtime was a systemic failure that goes beyond one player’s mistake. The Hurricanes’ forecheck has been relentless throughout this series, and the Canadiens had no reliable breakout plan when Carolina hemmed them in during overtime.

St. Louis’ response after the game, “It’s what’s next and we didn’t do what’s next. We didn’t get the job done.” was notably short on answers. With the series now shifting to Game 4 still in Montreal on Wednesday, St. Louis needs more than accountability soundbites. He needs a functional power play that Montreal has failed to capitalize on consistently, and he needs to simplify his team’s exit game under pressure so that the next Lane Hutson moment doesn’t come from a coaching structure that puts defenders in impossible decision-making spots in overtime.

The Canadiens are still alive, and Jakub Dobes was nothing short of heroic with 35 saves on 38 shots. But make no mistake, a team that was one win away from a 2-1 series advantage on home ice, squandered it through a catastrophic turnover, a toothless overtime offense, and structural defensive breakdowns. Game 4 on Wednesday is now a must-win in every sense of the word.

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