Cole Caufield carried 49 goals into Thursday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, leaving him one shy of a number no Canadiens player has reached since Stéphane Richer in 1990. He had gone three games without scoring, but Montreal was not treating the drought like a crisis as it prepared to host Tampa Bay at 7 p.m. at the Bell Centre.
Josh Anderson said Wednesday he did not think anybody was worried that Caufield was never going to score again, and Brendan Gallagher called him the best goal-scorer in the locker room. Gallagher added that Caufield has always scored goals and there was no point forcing it, while Anderson said he had been robbed lately and was likely due to break through soon. The faith comes with some numbers behind it: Caufield scored five goals in four games to get to 49 before last Saturday’s game at New Jersey, then had two assists in Montreal’s 4-3 shootout victory without scoring in regulation despite a team-leading five shots.
The next night was quieter. The Canadiens were shut out by the Devils in the rematch 24 hours later, and Caufield finished with three shots and four misses as the pressure around the milestone kept building. Montreal then clinched a playoff berth on Sunday afternoon because Detroit lost to Minnesota, shifting the focus from simply getting in to securing home-ice advantage in the opening round.
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That is what makes Thursday different. Tampa Bay, Buffalo and Montreal were tied atop the Atlantic Division with 102 points heading into Wednesday’s games, and the Canadiens were chasing position as much as history. Caufield’s next goal would not just make him the first Montreal player to reach 50 since Richer; it would also arrive at a moment when every point mattered in a division race that has left little room to breathe.
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What happens next is straightforward enough. Caufield gets another crack at 50, Montreal keeps pushing for the best possible playoff setup, and the same player his teammates trust to score eventually gets the chance to do it in front of them at home.
