Habs HC Martin St. Louis gives an honest review of Arber Xhekaj and Lane Hutson's new D-pair after Kaiden Guhle's brutal injury

Montreal Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis gave his thoughts on the new defensive pairing of Arber Xhekaj and Lane Hutson after Kaiden Guhle’s injury. Xhekaj was paired with Hutson in Thursday's game against the Minnesota Wild. The game was also special because it was Marc-Andre Fleury's final game at the Bell Centre

Guhle had surgery on Wednesday to repair a lacerated quadriceps muscle after getting injured in Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. Following the hit, Guhle was evaluated on Wednesday and was designated as "out indefinitely".

Here's the Canadiens' D-man lineup against WIld:

• Mike Matheson - Alexandre Carrier
• Arber Xhekaj - Lane Hutson
• Jayden Struble - David Savard

"I thought it was fine. Xhekaj’s a bigger body. He doesn’t play the same type of game as Guhle," St. Louis said about the D-man pair (21:30). "He gave us some good minutes. To my eyes he was fine. We’ll rewatch and see if that’s something we’re gonna keep."

Hutson has been a standout contributor for the Canadiens this season. He has scored three goals and 36 assists for 39 points tied for 66th in the league despite playing his first season as a regular in the Habs lineup. Meanwhile, Xhekaj has 74 penalty minutes in 48 games and has played 14:54 minutes on average.

The Montreal Canadiens' penalty kill has been good with 82.0, ranking seventh in the League. However, they need to work on goals against, which they are tied for 26th, with 3.34.

The Montreal Canadiens have a 24-22-5 record this season, ranking seventh in the Atlantic Division, but they are just four points below the Tampa Bay Lightning for the playoff spot.

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Lane Hutson and Arber Xhekaj fail to stop Wild's offense as Marc-Andre Fleury records 76th shutout

The Montreal Canadiens lost 4-0 to the Minnesota Wild at Bell Centre. The Habs defensive pair of Lane Hutson and Arber Xhekaj along with the first and third pairs failed to stop Wild in the second and third period, while Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 saves for his 76th career shutout.

The Wild scored first with Liam Ohgren's goal at 3:41 in the second period. Marco Rossi made it 2-0 at 5:47. In the third, Devin Shore added a third goal at 5:56. Frederick Gaudreau then scored into an empty net for the final goal.

Fleury’s strong performance and Montreal’s lack of energy contributed to their loss as the defeat extended Montreal’s winless streak to four games.