Montreal Canadiens winger Cole Caufield has transformed from star prospect to star player for the Habs in the past few weeks.
The 21 year old sniper has had a terrific season at various levels, leading the NCAA in scoring before being named the Hobey Baker Award winner. He took home a gold medal from the World Juniors with an impressive two-way performance on the team’s second line. He made his pro debut with the Laval Rocket and couldn’t be contained at the AHL level.
He proved in the regular season he could score a big goal in overtime during three on three action. Now, he has shown he can be a key offensive contributor for an NHL team in the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Caufield started the postseason slowly. In fact, he started the postseason in the press box as he sat as a healthy scratch for the first two games of the opening round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. When he was inserted in the lineup, he scored just two points, both assists, in his first seven playoff games.
Since then, he has been on the scoresheet for five consecutive games. He had assists in Game 3 and Game 4 against the Winnipeg Jets, including setting up Tyler Toffoli for the overtime winner, and has two goals and an assist against the Vegas Golden Knights in three contests.
That’s five points, one in each of his last five games and that streak has Caufield on the verge of matching some impressive company.
Caufield is technically not even a rookie yet. He played ten regular season games this year after his college career ended which means he will qualify as a rookie in the 2021-22 campaign.
Though he will still be a rookie next season, Caufield has a chance to match an impressive rookie scoring record for the Canadiens tonight. With a point this evening, Caufield will tie Howie Morenz and Shayne Corson as the only rookies to ever have a six game point streak in the playoffs for the Canadiens.
Cole Caufield (2-3—5 in 5 GP) will look to match the @CanadiensMTL record for longest playoff point streak by a rookie (6 GP), set by Howie Morenz in 1924 and repeated by Shayne Corson in 1987. #NHLStats #StanleyCup
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) June 20, 2021
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Corson accomplished the feat in 1987, when scoring was a bit higher than it is today, and Morenz notched points in six straight in 1924 when players often played the entire game.
Obviously the most important thing for the Canadiens tonight is to get a win and take a stranglehold on the series. But, Caufield could help them do that by matching a record that hasn’t been broken in close to 100 years.