Third period leads have been somewhat of a problem for the Montreal Canadiens this season, as evidenced by the amount of times they’ve held one, and still ended up in overtime. That didn’t happen against the Utah Mammoth on Saturday night, as the Habs put up three goals in the final frame, building on their one-goal lead and finishing the game with a 6-2 regulation win.
Two of their six goals on the night were scored by none other than Cole Caufield, who is possibly the hottest player in the NHL right now.
Refs won’t give them the obvious power plays, but who needs them when Cole Caufield can sneak one in like this #Habs tie it up again pic.twitter.com/I2mX0r4qSA
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) November 9, 2025
His shooting confidence at this point is unmatched. The above goal is from a pretty bad angle, and with the tiniest window to put the puck. He kisses it off the inside of the post for a goal that the Habs sorely needed, mere moments after the officials neglected an obvious interference penalty against Utah that directly precipitated a go-ahead goal for the visitors. They weren’t getting the calls they needed, but it didn’t matter with Caufield finding ways to manufacture goals for his team.
Later, he scored from in tight to extend their lead, taking a puck from behind the net and just jamming it in with barely any space between the post and Karel Vejmelka’s pad. This might be the most exciting part of Caufield’s scoring dominance to start this season; he’s not just doing it with shots from his favourite areas, he’s scoring from everywhere. He’ll fire off some lasers from farther out, but he’s also finding ways to take the puck to the net far more frequently than we’ve seen from him in the past.
Forget the 40-goal season we’ve all been waiting for, his current pace would see him cross the 60-goal mark. There is a caveat with him shooting just above 30% right now, a near-impossible mark to sustain for a full season, but he’ll continue to shoot above his career average if he’s supplementing his mid-range game with those high-percentage chances around the net. His percentage stands to drop eventually, but it’s hard to see how this season doesn’t end with a new career-high for him.
The team is also getting secondary scoring in a way they never have since he joined the team. You can’t sell out to stop Cole Caufield when players like Ivan Demidov, Kirby Dach, Alex Newhook, Oliver Kapanen, and Zachary Bolduc are waiting for a chance to burn you themselves. Caufield’s individual efforts are obviously impressive, but the team beyond his line is also contributing to what is one of the best starts we’ve seen from a Montreal scorer in decades.
This is the best version of Cole Caufield we’ve seen yet, and it just so happens that the team around him is better than any he’s been on.
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