After dropping two consecutive contests on home ice this past weekend, the Montreal Canadiens found themselves in a pivotal game on Tuesday night. The Boston Bruins were in town, and arrived sitting just one point behind the Habs in the Atlantic Division standings. Despite controlling five-on-five play quite well through three periods, they lacked any semblance of puck luck, and found themselves tied through 60 minutes, heading into a tense overtime period with serious implications in the standings.
Cole Caufield entered the game with 39 goals on the season, and there was no better time for him to reach the 40-goal milestone than in overtime.
Le 40e but de la saison de Cole Caufield, ma parole! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/2GRE6F13bk
— RDS (@RDSca) March 18, 2026
It was a special moment for the Bell Centre, as the building had yet to see a 40-goal scorer on the team since they moved there in 1996. How many fans in attendance were even born when Vincent Damphousse last accomplished the feat in 1993-94? Speaking for myself, I was wearing pull-ups and attending day care in the west island. It has been a long time coming, and the reaction of the fans in attendance should tell you all you need to know about how badly the fan base has wanted to see this.
For him to accomplish it at a moment where he secured a massive victory for the club makes it feel all the more momentous. They were reeling after those two losses on the weekend, they had an absurd amount of bad luck in last night’s game, and it felt like they were one bad bounce away from another loss. Not only did they avoid a back-breaking defeat, they did so through a moment that was over three decades in the making.
When Cole Caufield was drafted 15th-overall back in 2019, fans and pundits alike had him pegged as the team’s next 40-goal scorer from the get go. When coaching, injuries, and the general state of the team limited his ability to get there, those paying attention never wavered in that belief, because his ability to get there was apparent. He is the best goal scorer the team has seen since the turn of the century, and at just 25-years-old, he has plenty of time left to cement his place among the best goal scorers in the history of the club.
The job is not finished, and they’ll need some more out of him to keep pace in the ridiculously tight Atlantic. With his current scoring pace, him reaching 50 goals over the next 15 games isn’t out of the question. That would be a moment even longer in the making than Tuesday’s, and whether or not he gets there, every goal he scores helps them towards their goal of being back in the playoffs.
For now, he’s not focused on the next milestone, but simply that next goal that could help his team get where they want to go.
"What's after 40? 50?"
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) March 18, 2026
"41" – Cole 😂 pic.twitter.com/QMwGJG5poN
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