About Last Night: Cole Caufield one away from 50 after two-goal performance
The Canadiens nearly blew a two-goal lead in the third period against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, but Cole Caufield scored with 5:05 left to seal a 3-2 win.
The win was Montreal’s seventh in a row.
Caufield scored earlier in the night as well, putting him one goal away from hitting the 50-goal mark for the first time in his career at the end of the night. Only Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche has hit 50 so far.
Goalie Jacob Fowler started for the first time since Saturday and he made 22 saves for his eighth win of the season.
After goose eggs in the first, Alex Newhook opened scoring in the second with a one-timer off a no-look pass from Ivan Demidov.
Just 1:44 later, Caufield scored his first of the night. He completed a Harlem Globetrotter-esque passing sequence with linemates Juraj Slafkovsky and Nick Suzuki for No. 48 on the season.
The Rangers haven’t had much to celebrate this season, but the last-place team in the Metropolitan Division entered the game on a three-game winning streak and didn’t quit in the third period.
They peppered Fowler with 12 shots and managed to score twice on the Habs netminder. Defenceman Adam Fox had the first, jumping on a loose puck in front while Fowler was down.
Less than five minutes later, the Rangers erased Montreal’s lead on a goal from Will Cuylle that had head coach Martin St. Louis contemplating whether it was goalie interference. The Canadiens coach called a timeout to review the play, but elected not to challenge and it was all tied with 5:52 left in regulation.
The Habs let a weaker opponent claw back into the game, but they got down to business 47 seconds later on a nifty play off the draw where Mike Matheson sent Caufield in on Igor Shesterkin by ringing the puck along the boards. Caufield beat the Rangers netminder’s five-hole to put himself a goal away from a career milestone no Canadiens player has reached since Stephane Richer in 1989-90.
Caufield’s 12th game-winning goal also put him one back of Guy Lafleur for the season-high by a Hab.
Some other Habs chasing neat point plateaus: Suzuki’s two assists put him at 94 points, Demidov is one point away from 60, and Slafkovsky needs three points to hit 70.
Caufield will get two chances to hit the 50-goal mark this weekend in a home-and-home series against the New Jersey Devils.
By winning seven straight, the Habs have leapt past the logjam for the wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference standings. They’re four up on the Boston Bruins for third place in the Atlantic Division and can devote their energies to the two teams ahead of them, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres.
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The Ottawa Senators (who won), the Detroit Red Wings (who also won), and the Columbus Blue Jackets (who lost) are all tied at 88 points for the final wild-card spot. The Habs are 10 ahead of them, so fans can breathe easy with seven games left as they’re sitting pretty in the playoff picture. But if they keep winning, home-ice advantage for the first round is attainable.
Although things were mostly positive on the Hockey Inside Out YouTube livestream, there was some disagreement about defenceman Noah Dobson’s value to the team. He’s the highest-paid player, and his defensive miscues can stand out among the Liveblog commenters. He was on the ice for both Ranger goals, and his negative game score stuck out like a sore thumb.
Here’s what the commenters had to say:
3. That was a game the Habs could easily have lost taking them for granted, but the elite offence comes through in the clutch.
2. Nice to see them come back and regain the lead. Great move and shot by CC to win.
Standing pat at the deadline takes cojones, I'm happy with Gorton/Hughes at the moment and Bobrov.
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