Bottom Six Minutes 59: Clutch Caufield

Back-to-back games are tough, but they’re even tougher when you have to do it with travel and Daylight Savings Time jumping the clocks forward on you. The Montreal Canadiens performed admirably in that situation, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in overtime in a game where they were the better team for most of regulation play.

And the cherry on top? Cole Caufield scored one of the coolest goals you’ll see in an overtime period.

I’m not sure if I like anything more in hockey than the audacity it took for Caufield to let everyone in the building know what he was planning with that wind up, and still pull it off. He may as well have done a Babe Ruth and pointed out his spot, because not a person in that building, Carter Hart included, can say they didn’t know it was coming.

But the velocity Caufield puts on the puck makes it incredibly hard to stop, even if you know it’s coming. A few months ago, he may have double clutched there, or looked for a teammate on the other side, but now he’s just letting it fly. He’s confident enough to take these opportunities, and if he can carry that confidence through the rest of this season and into next year, this could just be the tip of the iceberg.

The game also featured stellar performances from Nick Suzuki, Rem Pitlick, and even Ben Chiarot. Caufield may have stolen the show in the end, but I think it is important to note that this was quite the team effort. Getting back into the game so late — while shorthanded to boot — and then winning it in overtime made for a very entertaining night of hockey.

Finishing in the basement of the league will be a lot easier to stomach for fans if they can continue to be that entertaining.

Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available on your podcast platform of choice. We’ll be back with another episode following Tuesday night’s game against the Arizona Coyotes.