Caufield Strikes Again With An OT Winner

As nice as Cole Caufield’s overtime winning goal was, this game should never have seen extra time, but of course, notorious Habs killer Brandon Montour came alive late in the game to rally the Kraken, who were down 3-0 with 10 minutes to go, to tie the game and send it to OT. Before that, the Habs played an almost perfect 50 minutes on the road against the Kraken.

The Canadiens went to work early on in the game and got on the board with a goal halfway through the first period. Noah Dobson started the play with a shot pass that went off Kraken netminder Joey Daccord’s pads and right to Nick Suzuki, who took the puck and passed it through the crease to a wide-open Caufield, who would make no mistake to get his 1st of 2 goals on the night. Suzuki deserves a lot of credit for the skilled pass he made to smoothly navigate through the crease and find Caufield for an easy opportunity. 

With that assist, Suzuki extended his point streak to 10 games, which ties his career-best point streak in the process. Suzuki would finish the night with 3 assists and is now the current league leader in assists following Tuesday’s games. He also recorded his 100th multi-point game of his career. The Habs captain is rolling, and things are trickling down as a result.

Towards the end of the first period, Juraj Slafkovsky finished a beautiful tic-tac-toe play with Caufield and Suzuki on the power play to put the Canadiens up 2-0 before the end of the first period. Slafkovsky’s goal gave him the team lead in power-play goals with 3. 

The Habs managed to maintain their 2-0 lead throughout the entire second period by playing a strong, low-event period that didn’t allow the Kraken any prime chances. Jakub Dobes remained strong on the chances he faced but he wasn’t really challenged much.

The offense for the Canadiens got back to work early in the 3rd period with the 2nd power-play unit cashing in this time. Kirby Dach passed it off a Kraken defender’s skate and right to Alex Newhook, who ripped it 5-hole past Daccord to put the Canadiens up 3-0 with just over 14 minutes to play in the 3rd period. While Dach’s pass was blocked, it almost looks as if he purposefully passed it off the skate to get the puck to a teammate, looking like a big brain play. Dach has looked really good the last few games. Hopefully, the confidence in his play continues. The Habs finished the night going 2/2 on the power-play, and it wasn’t just the top unit that produced; everyone looked good on the man advantage on Tuesday.

Everything was looking good for the Habs with a little more than half the 3rd period to go, when defenseman Brandon Montour, aka The Habs Killer, started to go to work. He started his work at the 8:57 mark of the 3rd period, with a point shot that beat Dobes through traffic to get the Kraken on the board. 

With less than 5 minutes left, Montour fed Shane Wright in the slot, who made no mistake to get the Kraken within 1. Then, finally, with under 2 minutes left to play and the Kraken goalie pulled, Montour one-timed a point shot through traffic again that went past Dobes to tie the game and send it to overtime. 

Montour has been a thorn in the Habs’ side over the past two years. During last year’s meeting in Seattle, Montour broke an NHL record for fastest OT goal, just 4 seconds in. He also scored a hat-trick earlier last year at the Bell Centre. He was quieter in the Habs home opener with just one assist, but still, he always manages to stick out as a player to beware of when playing the Habs. 4 of his 7 points this year are against the Canadiens. Montour probably wishes he could play against the Canadiens more often.

Luckily for the Habs, Caufield came to the rescue once again, just 44 seconds into overtime, with a beautiful individual effort by deking out the Kraken defenders and then trying to slip it past Daccord. At first, it didn’t go in, but Caufield managed to push the puck past Daccord in a play that surprised and wowed everyone. Caufield is now the all-time leader in overtime winners for the Habs with 11. The OT winner allowed him to finish the night in a tie for most goals in the NHL with Vegas Golden Knights forward Pavel Dorofeyev with 9.

Thanks to Caufield, the Habs escaped a blown lead that could have been the game’s story if it had gone the other way in overtime. Nonetheless, the Canadiens got the result they deserved in the end after playing a nearly perfect 50 minutes to start the game.

The Habs are now off until Saturday when they take on the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Centre, returning home at 7:00 pm ET after their road trip.