One Montreal Canadiens drought finally ended this season when Cole Caufield scored his 40th goal of the season in the win against the Boston Bruins. There was a 32-year gap between the Canadiens 40-goal scorers, but with Caufield not showing any signs of slowing down, his eyes may be set on ending the 50-goal drought, even if he says he is only worried about scoring the next one. He is not the only Canadiens player on the verge of ending a long-standing drought, with Nick Suzuki on pace to become the first player to score 100 points in a season since the 1985-86 season. The years of the Canadiens struggling to produce consistent offence are all but over, thanks in large part to “Slick Nick” and “Mr. Saturday Night”.
Suzuki leading by example
While Caufield was the first to end a long-standing Canadiens drought this season, it was Suzuki who kick-started the offensive movement last season when he became the first player since Alexei Kovalev to score 82 points in a season. Kovalev accomplished that feat in the 2007-08 season, and just to say how long it has been, he was the only player to score over a point per game throughout the entirety of Carey Price’s illustrious 15-year career as a Canadiens. Suzuki had 89 points in 82 games last season, but this year he has set his sights on a new goal.
Through 70 games this season, Suzuki already has 86 points, just three points shy of his career high he set last season, but with 12 games still left to play. At the pace he is going, reaching 100 points is still in reach, something not done since Mats Naslund in the 1985-86 season. Naslund led the Canadiens in goals (43), assists (67), and points (110) that season on a team that would eventually go on and win the Stanley Cup. Naslund would lead the Canadiens in scoring during that playoff run with 19 points, but ultimately lost out on the Conn Smythe Trophy to Patrick Roy. With a season of ending droughts already underway, and the last time a Canadiens player scored 100 points in a season ended with hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup, maybe history can repeat itself.
Suzuki is 14 points away with 12 games to go. It will not be an easy challenge to reach 100, but the way he has been playing lately has Habs fans optimistic. He has 10 points in his last five games, thanks in large part to his performance against the New York Islanders, where he recorded four assists in the Canadiens 7-3 win. If Suzuki can reach the 100-point mark, he would cement himself as one of the premier centres in the NHL, something Canadiens fans already know he is.
Goal Caufield
Caufield hit the 40-goal plateau for the first time in his career this season, 32 years after the last Canadiens player to accomplish that feat. Vincent Damphousse was the last Habs player to hit the 40-goal mark in the 1993-94 season, but now Caufield has another number in his sights. After hitting the 40-goal plateau against the Bruins, he went goalless against the Detroit Red Wings, but he did not have to wait much longer before he found the score sheet again.
In the game against the Islanders, while Suzuki was racking up assists, Caufield was finding a way to put the puck in the net. The Wisconsin native scored his 41st, 42nd, and 43rd goals of the season against the Islanders and added his 44th in the win against the Carolina Hurricanes, giving him a real chance of hitting 50 before the season ends. The gap between Canadiens 40-goal scorers was 32 years, but the last player to hit 50 for Montreal was 36 years ago. Stephane Richer was the last player to do so when he scored 51 in the 1989-90 season. He became just the second player to score 50 goals multiple times in their career, the other was the great Guy Lafleur.
Caufield is attempting to do it for the first time in his career, and with him sitting just two goals back of the league lead, he can accomplish something no Canadiens player has done in the process. The Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy was introduced to the NHL in the 1999 season, and has never been won by a Canadiens player. 50 might not be enough to win the trophy, but there is probably no better way for Caufield to cap off his incredible season by becoming the Canadiens' first player to hit 50 goals in 36 years, while becoming the first player in team history to win the trophy dedicated to the late great Maurice Richard.