BROSSARD, Que — This was a no-brainer, especially after the Montreal Canadiens scored just three goals through the first two games of this series with the Toronto Maple Leafs, which is tied 1-1.
Cole Caufield, the 20-year-old who shattered scoring records with the United States National Development Program Team before completing two of the most prolific seasons ever seen from a Wisconsin Badger in the NCAA, is playing Game 3 for the Canadiens.
His first Stanley Cup Playoff game, after scoring four goals in his first 10 regular-season games in the NHL, will be the first one played at the Bell Centre in over four years, and he will be looked upon to provide something his team desperately needs.
“I’m in here to spark the team and give us energy and help us win,” Caufield said after completing the morning skate on a line with Joel Armia and Nick Suzuki. “I’m going to do everything I can to play in the offensive zone, play 200 feet and do all the right things and play with high compete level.”
It’s what Caufield has practically done since he first laced up skates as a toddler. He’s a sniper of the first order, a quick-skating, space-finding finisher who can change the game with one flick of his wrists.
As Canadiens leading-scorer Tyler Toffoli recently put it in this op-ed for The Players’ Tribune, “He’s special, man. For real. He’s got that it factor. I’ve only seen it in a few guys in the league. He’s got it.”
That alone is something that probably should’ve been relied on through the first two games of this series.
But Caufield enters for Game 3 as an ace in the hole.
“He’s a confident kid,” said teammate John Merrill, who’s moving from a defence pair with Shea Weber to one with Brett Kulak.
“He’s not cocky, he’s confident. He’s sure of himself as a player and as a person, which is really refreshing to see. He doesn’t walk around like he’s better than anyone, but he definitely walks around like he knows he can make an impact. So, we’re excited to see what he can do tonight and we all have the utmost confidence that he can come in and do a job for us.”
Just the threat of Caufield uncorking his wicked wrist shot is an added dimension, whether he scores or not. He’s a player who must be accounted for at all times while he’s on the ice, and the opposition having to focus on him will help free up space for some of Montreal’s other scorers, who have yet to hit the board in this series against this high-octane Maple Leafs side.
Toffoli, who had 28 goals in the regular season, has notched two assists but been held without a goal through the first two games. He’s got four total shots on net after averaging at least three over the 56 games before the playoffs started.
Brendan Gallagher, who has registered more shot attempts than any other forward in the NHL over the last four seasons, has been limited to just three on net, with none of them hitting the back of it.
Tomas Tatar, an offensive catalyst over the last three seasons with Montreal, was on the precipice of being scratched from Game 3 when Eric Staal signalled to trainers at the morning skate that he wouldn’t be able to play through injury. Canadiens coach Dominique Ducharme has put him on notice.
“He’s an offensive guy, so we want him to produce scoring chances and having himself scoring chances,” Ducharme said of Tatar, who has zero points and zero shots on goal in this series. “We feel, and I feel, that he can be bringing more on that side, and we had that discussion this morning. I’m looking forward to seeing the way he’s going to play tonight.”
All eyes will be on Caufield, though, as the Canadiens attempt to wrestle back momentum from the Maple Leafs, who seized it with a commanding 5-1 win in Toronto to even the series on Saturday. He can jumpstart the power play, which couldn’t convert on its first six opportunities of the series, but he can also do more than just that.
Caufield showed excellent chemistry with Suzuki in the regular season and proved to be anything but a liability at five-on-five — especially at the Bell Centre, where six of his 10 games were played.
With home-ice advantage, the team registered 59 per cent of the shot attempts and 62 per cent of the expected goals when the Wisconsin kid was on the ice. It’s something that should give Ducharme zero pause about playing Caufield on a regular shift instead of sheltering him.
The coach said on Sunday that the preparation that went into Caufield’s playoff debut — a week’s worth of practices and two live viewings of this series — has only reinforced his willingness to rely on him.
“We have depth and we’ve prepared so that everyone is able to come in and make a contribution,” Ducharme said. “Obviously, being at home, we can have better control of the matchups on the other side, so if he’s in uniform, he won’t only be on the power play because, as we saw (Saturday), you might just get one in a game.”
Caufield’s not only dressing, he’s playing a prominent role, and appears unfazed by the pressure that comes with that.
“I think there’s a lot more excitement than nerves,” he said. “When it gets closer to game-time, you start feeling ‘em, but, obviously, it’s a playoff game. Very intense. You’ve gotta be ready to go, you’ve gotta compete, and I’ve prepared for all those things. Being able to watch, I feel a lot more prepared going into tonight. Obviously, I can’t wait to get my feet wet in this game tonight, and hopefully I can have success.”
Ducharme is confident he will.
“We like his speed, we know he’s a guy who can shoot fast and score goals,” the coach said. “At the same time, I think he was able to see the difference between what he saw over his final games of the season and the first two games of the playoffs not being the same. We feel he’s ready to come in.”
After piling up more goals than Auston Matthews, Phil Kessel or any other great player to play with the USNTDP, after dominating the NCAA and capturing the Hobey Baker Award, after making his professional debut with game-winning goals for the AHL’s Laval Rocket and after scoring two overtime winners — and a couple more goals — with the Canadiens, the 15th overall pick in the 2019 Draft is arriving on hockey’s biggest stage.
The timing couldn’t be more appropriate.
