Cole Caufield Has a 5-Point Night As Habs Ger Statement Win Vs. Islanders

It was a tough game early on as they struggled to convert on the chances where it looked like it would be another game that Ilya Sorokin and the Islanders’ defensive style would shut down the Habs. Still, once their offence got one late in the 2nd period, it was just turning back as they started to take over the game. The Newhook goal late in the 2nd period to tie the game was the true turning point. Not only that, but it was a massive goal from the 2nd line that had struggled a lot as of late. Hopefully, this goal can get him, Oliver Kapanen, and Ivan Demidov to play well in future games. They needed that goal more than any other line after two games where they struggled massively.

Jacob Fowler didn’t have the best night, but he still made a few big saves that helped the Habs not go down by a goal during the second period when the Habs were unable to get a single shot on goal until the 5 minutes of the period. Fowler would finish the night making 19 stops on 22 shots; it wasn’t his best game, but he did enough to keep the team in the game before the offence took over, and that’s what really counts at the end of the day.

The Habs got an opportunity to score early in the game with a power play, and they capitalized with a goal by Slafkovsky, who is essentially the go-to scorer on the power play now. Slafkovsky scored his team-leading 14th power play marker and 26th goal overall on the season. In the process, he extended his point streak to 6 games; meanwhile, Suzuki extended his point streak to 6 games with an assist, and Caufield got an assist, bringing his streak to 5 games. As mentioned earlier, this was just the beginning of a big night for the top line.

Unfortunately, the Habs’ 1-0 lead wouldn’t last long, as the Islanders would tie the game 2:36 later with a power play goal of their own by former Habs forward Emil Heineman. The goal was a bad one for Fowler to allow as the puck beat him due to not covering his post correctly. It wasn’t a bad shot by Heineman that beat him, but it was one he should have had given the angle the puck beat him from.

A cross-ice pass by Lane Hutson a little later in the opening frame would get intercepted by Adam Pelech, who would spring Islanders forward Simon Holmstrom for a breakaway. On the breakaway, Holmstrom would deke out Fowler to put his team up 2-1.

The Islanders managed to be up 2-1 despite being outshot 17-6 in the first period, as after scoring the first goal, the Habs weren’t able to solve Sorokin, who was looking dialled in to get his team the win. Meanwhile, the Islanders were capitalizing on all their good chances to score in the first period.

The 2nd period saw the Islanders starting to dominate the shots as they fired the first seven shots of the period before the Canadiens would get their first shot on Sorokin nearly 15 minutes into the middle frame. One of the Islanders’ chances went into the net, but it was knocked in by a clear high stick over the crossbar by Matthew Schaefer, which led to it not counting. Another time the puck hit the inside of the post and came out.

It would take the Habs’ 2nd line to tie the game thanks to Newhook ripping a puck past Sorokin with 2:11 left in the 2nd period. Kaiden Guhle would send a great cross-ice pass to Newhook, where he would one-time the puck from the right circle in a very similar fashion to how he scored last Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks. To make things even more similar to his last two goals, it gave the Habs the momentum to score another pretty quickly afterwards.

The Habs would get a power play late in the period, where they would score yet again before the frame ended. This time it was Caufield who would score his 1st goal of the night, from his office along the goal line where he shot the puck between the post and Sorokin’s shoulder to give the Habs a 3-2 lead. This was his 25th go-ahead goal of the season, which ties him with Joe Sakic, Cam Neely, and John LeClair for the 4th highest of all time.

Just before the period ended, Brendan Gallagher would take a tripping penalty that carried into the start of the 3rd period. At the beginning of the period, Schaefer would one-time the puck past Fowler for his 3rd goal in 2 games against the Habs this season. It was a good shot, but the Canadiens’ penalty killers didn’t put enough pressure on or attempt to block the point shot, which allowed an easy route for Schaefer to tie the game. Despite this goal, the Habs would officially take complete control of the game afterwards.

It would take just 2:32 for the Canadiens to regain the lead off a point shot of their own. Guhle would score off a one-timer that came from a set play that came off a faceoff to give the Habs a 4-3 lead with his 2nd of the season. Both of his markers this year have ended up being game-winning goals (the first one was all the way back on October 11th vs. the Chicago Blackhawks). Guhle was a huge reason why the Canadiens finally had secondary scoring on Saturday night, as he finished the night with a goal and 2 assists. He did that alongside his 2 hits and 4 blocked shots as Guhle played a great game on both ends of the ice, proving he was the best Habs defenseman on the night.

From there, the Canadiens poured on the offence with Slafkovsky’s 2nd of the night as the Habs would take a 5-3 lead. The goal featured a tic-tac-toe type of play that started with Suzuki behind the net, who sent it to Caufield before he fed Slafkovsky at the side of the net to give the Habs a solid two-goal lead. 

A few minutes later, it would be Caufield’s turn to get his 2nd of the night as he would receive a pass in the slot from Slafkovsky off a rebound where the Habs’ top goal scorer would beat Sorokin to extend the lead to 6-3. Caufield’s goal would lead to a goaltender change as David Rittich would come in for Sorokin, who allowed 6 goals on 32 shots.

With the Habs up 6-3, the Islanders started to get chippy and try to bait the Habs into a fight. It was actually Matthew Barzal who dropped his gloves trying to fight Suzuki, who wanted no part of it and would end up getting Barzal kicked out of the game. Suzuki was laughing the whole time that Barzal tried challenging him as he gave the Islanders forward no retaliation, which led to a scrum with everyone on the ice. Barzal would get 4 minutes for roughing + a 10-minute misconduct, while Guhle got 2 minutes for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct for his efforts in the scrum, leading to a Habs power play.

On that power play, the Habs would get their 3rd goal on the man advantage of the night to get a 7-3 lead. It was Caufield who completed his hat-trick on a 2-on-1 where Suzuki sent him a beautiful cross-ice pass. Caufield now has 43 goals and is only 7 goals away from being the first Habs player in 36 years to score 50. With 13 games to go in the season, can he do it? He is now on pace for 51 goals.

As well as Caufield approaching 50 goals, Suzuki is now only 15 points away from hitting 100 points on the season, with an assist on the hat-trick goal. If he reaches that mark, he will be the first one to do so in 40 years. It seems like this year could see both Suzuki and Caufield reach milestones that the Habs haven’t seen in years.

After the 7-3 goal, Zack Bolduc appeared to have scored for the first time since December 23rd; the Islanders’ head coach would challenge the play for offside, leading to the game finishing 7-3. It sucks for Bolduc as he remains goalless in his last 28 games, but at the end of the day, the Canadiens still got a convincing win, which is what matters most.

The Habs needed a big performance like this in such an important game to show the league just what they are about. Truthfully, the Canadiens won’t be able to win most low-scoring games, but wide-open exciting hockey is the style in which they have success. With that being said, by making it a high-chance game, it was a matchup that favoured the Habs, and they got the important two points to help them towards making the playoffs. The Canadiens’ first line firing on all cylinders bodes well for this team as the best players were once again leading with their play on the ice.

The Habs will be back in action on Tuesday when they host the Carolina Hurricanes in what should be another tough battle, as the Canadiens look to carry their momentum from a great Saturday night performance.

Tell us your reactions to Saturday night’s blowout win against the Islanders in the comments.