Looking to earn a third straight victory and give themselves a chance in the wild card race, the Montreal Canadiens were back on Bell Centre ice to face the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night. It ended up being a far tougher outing than expected, where they had to come back from down a goal three separate times to force an overtime period.
In that overtime period, noted sniper Cole Caufield treated the home crowd to an absolute show.
Cole Caufield walks Macklin Celebrini and calls game in OT. pic.twitter.com/RhO5Dbnayl
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) February 28, 2025
This was somewhat reminiscent of earlier in the game, when Colin Graf caught Owen Beck covering on defense, and walked around him to set up a Sharks goal. Recognizing a forward in Macklin Celebrini covering the left side, Caufield went right at him, scoring one of the most beautiful goals we’ve seen this season for the Habs. He is now only two goals off the all-time record for overtime goals as a Hab, and could feasibly own that record before his 25th birthday.
That is now 28 total goals on the season, and he added an assist to bring his points total to 53 through 59 games. Not only does he have a strong chance of finally cracking the 40-goal plateau, he’s poised to blow clean past last season’s career-high of 65 points. Doing this in just the second year of his eight-year contract is making that look like a bargain, particularly with the knowledge that the salary cap is expected to rise quickly in the coming years. The more that Caufield and the top line play like they are right now, the better those deals look.
Overall, it was easily the worst game the team has played since coming back from the Four Nations break, and they found a way to win it anyways. Right now, the lynchpin in their success is that top line, and they seem to be able to drag this team to the fight, even when they’re not entirely up to it as a unit. Whether or not they can drag this team to the playoffs remains to be seen, but even if they can’t, the future of this team feels like it’s in great hands with them leading the way.
The city loves it, and it seems Caufield is pretty happy about his decision to sign long term.
“We love playing at home for you guys. Best fans in the league, best spot to play.”
— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) February 28, 2025
– Cole Caufield to Habs fans at the Bell Centre ♥️ pic.twitter.com/Vtsr3a3dTr
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll be back on Saturday night for the first game of the home-and-home against the Buffalo Sabres.
