After beating the New Jersey Devils in extremis at the Prudential Center on Saturday night, the Montreal Canadiens were hosting them on Sunday night at the Bell Centre. By the time the puck dropped, the Habs had clinched their playoff spot, thanks to the Detroit Red Wings losing to the Minnesota Wild earlier in the day. That didn’t mean the pressure was gone. Captain Nick Suzuki said earlier this week that the Habs wanted first place, not eighth place, and they are right in the mix for that in the Atlantic Division and in the Eastern Conference.
However, that’s not what the fans in attendance were thinking about. They all had one thing in mind: seeing Cole Caufield score his 50th of the season. There were even more number 13 jerseys out there, plenty of signs about the impending milestone, and someone had even bought nig inflatable 5-0 golden balloons. When the sniper was shown on the Jumbotron during the warm-up, the crowd erupted in applause, and when he had his first shift, they were all chanting his name. It’s a good thing that he doesn’t mind playing under pressure.
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While the players have been adamant that they all think about the team first and foremost, for a second game in a row, it looked like they were desperately trying to get the puck to Caufield, and it wasn’t always because he was the best option or even open.
Of course, the team’s results have to come first, but it feels like the players want Caufield to reach 50, and the sooner he does, the better off the Canadiens will be. Asked about it, coach Martin St-Louis explained:
I think you can see that the guys are really looking for him out there. I think it does affect the continuity of certain plays. I have full confidence that he will score 50. We would have liked it to be tonight for many reasons, including moving on from it and giving that to the crowd. It would have been fine to give them that tonight. I went through it, it’s normal.
– St-Louis on his men and the Caufield 50-goal chase
After 40 minutes, the Canadiens had a total of eight shots, four per period. That wasn’t going to allow Caufield, or anyone on the team, to score, for that matter. At least in the first frame, they had only four shots that reached the net, but they also had 15 more shot attempts that were blocked or missed. There was some urgency in their offensive game.
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That wasn’t the case in the middle frame; on top of only testing Markstrom four times, they only had six attempts that didn’t reach him. On their one power play opportunity, they didn’t even get a shot on goal and allowed two odd-man rushes. When your goaltender is your best player on the penalty kill, it’s good news, but not so much when he is on the power play.
The Canadiens had a bit more jump in the final frame, and they got to spend a lot of time on the power play, but they couldn’t make anything of it.
Will the Canadiens change their approach now that they have clinched a playoff spot? That’s highly unlikely because they still have plenty to play for. When St-Louis was asked how it would affect the way he manages his bench and his lineup, he explained:
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I don’t think it’s going to change much. We’re still in a place where we can win our division and get home-ice advantage. To lower your level and wait for the playoffs and then say right we need to kick it into gear now, it’s a trap you’ve got to be wary of. If guys are nursing ailments, that’s one thing. I’m proud of the guys, we’ve reached our goal, but now we have the opportunity not to be satisfied with doing that, we can go and get something even bigger.
The Canadiens’ winning streak ended at eight triumphs in a row with a 3-0 loss to the Devils, but after enjoying a day off on Monday, they’ll put their working boots back on and keep on fighting for the best rank in the standings possible.
Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.
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