Guy Lafleur, Carey Price, Cole Caufield and The Greatest Game
This is the story of one of the greatest games in the Montreal Canadiens recent history, including an all-time great, the end of an era, and the start of a new one.
Okay, so a team that has won 24 Stanley Cups has had plenty of "Greatest Games", and each person has their own definition of the best game they have ever seen or heard of. Really, any of the 24 games that clinched one of their Stanley Cup wins are more impactful than this one. Guy Lafleur and Carey Price have had their fair share of fantastic performances and hopefully Cole Caufield will have his share of his own in the future.
But, there was something special in the air of April 29th, 2022 in the Bell Centre in Montreal.
82 Games Earlier
The Montreal Canadiens have been stuck at 24 Stanley Cups since 1993, but they came close in 2021, one of the strangest NHL seasons ever.
The Canadiens snuck through the Canadian division as the last seed, made a 3-1 series comeback against the heavily favoured Toronto Maple Leafs, swept the Winnipeg Jets, and beat the Vegas Golden Knights and the refs to make it to the Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
If I was talking about the most cathartic game in recent memory, I would pick game 6 against the Vegas Golden Knights. After terrible refereeing throughout the entire series, and the complete lack of faith in the Canadiens, Artturi Lehkonen pushing the Habs through to the Final was a genuinely cheer-worthy moment.
However, the Canadiens could not stand against the machine that were the Tampa Bay Lightning, and they were quickly dispatched in just 5 games. And that probably was because two of their best players were quite badly injured.
First of all was the captain, Shea Weber, the Canadiens' latest inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Weber was dealing with issues with his left foot, a serious injury that he played through during the whole playoff run, and would ultimately retire him, never playing a game after the 2021 season.
The second was Carey Price. Price, the backbone of the Montreal Canadiens for a decade, was also dealing with his own serious injury, this one to his knee and meniscus. While Price would play after the 2021 playoffs, and we will get to that in a bit, it was effectively the end of his career.
And with those two, arguably the two most important players on the team at the time, completely missing off the ice for the 2021-22 season, the season quickly fell apart. The Canadiens, a relatively young team with a healthy mix of veteran presence, like Mike Hoffman and Jeff Petry, were unable to keep the puck out of their own net and they fell in the standings.
To say it was rough is an understatement. 2021-22 was arguably the team's worst season ever, having the most goals scored against them, least wins, most losses and least points.
So by the time April 29th came along, the team was firmly stuck in the basement and facing their polar opposites, the President's Trophy winning Florida Panthers.
7 Days Earlier
Like how everyone has a favourite game, every fan has a favourite player. They run the gamut, especially with a history as storied as the Montreal Canadiens, but one name that will always come up, especially with the older fans, is Guy Lafleur.
Le Demon Blond is easily one of the greatest hockey players to have ever lived, let alone just on the Montreal Canadiens. His flowing blonde hair was a beautiful trademark as he sped up and down the ice, with silky smooth hands and an equally deadly finish, Lafleur was the peak.
On a team that includes Jean Beliveau, Henri and Maurice Richard, Guy Lafleur leads them all in career points and assists, and sits just below The Rocket for the most goals. But what's funny is if you look at the most points in a single season.
Player | Season | Points |
|---|---|---|
Guy Lafleur | 1976-77 | 136 |
Guy Lafleur | 1977-78 | 132 |
Guy Lafleur | 1978-79 | 129 |
Guy Lafleur | 1975-76 | 125 |
Guy Lafleur | 1979-80 | 125 |
Guy Lafleur | 1974-75 | 119 |
Peter Mahovlich | 1974-75 | 117 |
Mats Naslund | 1985-86 | 110 |
Steve Shutt | 1976-77 | 105 |
Peter Mahovlich | 1975-76 | 105 |
Yup, that's right. In just pure numbers, Guy Lafleur has the 6 best seasons in Montreal Canadiens history. There hasn't been many other players that have had his offensive skills and electricity since he retired in the entire league, let alone as a member of the Canadiens.
But, unfortunately, his hey-day was in the late 70s, and time stops for no man, and no one lives forever. So sadly, Guy Damien Lafleur passed away on April 22nd, 2022 at just the age of 70.
The Beautiful Game
Okay, now we have finally reached April 29th, 2022, the final game of the 2021-22 season for the Montreal Canadiens and the Florida Panthers.
Let's get the elephant out of the room first. This was basically the Florida Panthers in name only. The Panthers were backstopped by Jonas Johansson, who had played just one game before in that season, and has just recently passed 60 games played in his career. There were some full time NHLers, like Brandon Montour and Anthony Duclair, but the Florida Panthers were resting most of their stars, and the depth was thin.
But ultimately I don't think that matters too much. Fringe NHLers are still very good hockey players, and if David Ayres and the Toronto Maple Leafs proved anything, there are no guaranteed wins.
Despite it being the end of a terribly disappointing season, the energy was high in the building. To honor him after his recent passing, attendees were given bobbleheads embossed with the #10 on the back and adorned with flowing blonde hair depicting Guy Lafleur celebrating.
And so the game began, and the Canadiens jumped out early, their first shot coming from young defender Jordan Harris, who scored his first career NHL goal just under 2 minutes into the game. It was an auspicious start, but just 3 minutes later veteran Mike Hoffman banged in a rebound and it was off to the races.
Directly off the faceoff following the Hoffman goal, the Habs win the puck back and Cole Caufield snipes a goal just 12 seconds later. A Brendan Gallagher powerplay goal made the lead 4 in the first period and the game was pretty much out of reach from there.
Before the first period ended, the Florida Panthers did get one back, of course it was off the stick of Ben Chiarot, who was a Montreal Canadien just a few months earlier.
The second period was more of the same. Cole Caufield scored his second goal, an absolute beauty again just under 2 minutes into the period. And the depth came through. Mattheiu Perrault and Christian Dvorak both found the twine between a goal from the underrated defensive centre Jake Evans making the game 8-1 at the end of the second.
The third period is what puts this game into the history books. Ben Chiarot was one of the only Panthers player that looked like he actually wanted to be on the ice that night. And early in the third period, he had the puck on his stick in the high slot, looking directly into the eyes of the goalie in the bleu-blanc-et-rouge, Carey Price.
Price was quickly ruled out for most of the 2021-22 season, but played just 5 games, all in April, at the end of the year. And to put it lightly, it wasn't great. It was clear he was still dealing with injuries, and he lost his first 4 games, allowing 16 goals in that time.
But the Canadiens netminder came back for just one last game, the last game in this cursed season, and he made his last great save, a windmilling grab on a grade-A chance by his former teammate.
3 minutes later, Caufield bounces a pass from Hoffman off his foot in the slot and bats in his third goal of the night, and completed his first career hat-trick. The hats fell from the crowd as well chants of 'Cole! Cole! Cole!' It was a magical moment, but one that would be topped just over a minute later.
Tyler Pitlick picks a puck out of a scrum off a faceoff, and pots the 10th Montreal Canadiens goal of the evening. The announcement of Pitlick's goal was completely drowned out by more chants of 'Guy! Guy! Guy!' as the team and the fans paid homage to possibly the greatest player in team history, scoring the number of his jersey and washing the foul taste of the last season out of everyone's mouth.
A late Noel Acciari goal (also assisted by former Hab Chiarot) did little to quell the celebrations as the 2022 season ended in the best was possible. It was a tribute to one of the all time greats, the swan song of the face of the team for a decade, and one of the first great performances of one of the players that will lead the next generation. What more can you ask for in a game?