He scored his 48th of the season at 6:20 of the second period to give Montreal a 2-0 lead. He took a pass from behind the net from Slafkovsky and fired a shot over Shesterkin’s right shoulder.
“When you have a goal-scorer like that you can always find a pass and there’s a good chance it’s going to go in,” Slafkovsky said. “I hope he can get it (50 goals) as soon as possible and get a lot more.”
When asked if getting 50 goals and catching MacKinnon is on his mind, Caufield first gave a quick, “no.” But after a pause, he gave an enthusiastic, “like yeah,” drawing laughs from the media.
“I just say the same as our coach, we’re focused on our team game and winning games and I think individual stuff comes with that. Obviously, it helps when you’re winning games, but you’d be crazy not to know what’s going on around the League.
“So again, still hungry. A couple more games to go.”
His first goal came 1:44 after Newhook gave Montreal at 1-0 lead at 4:36 of the second with a one-timer on a feed from Ivan Demidov that beat Shesterkin. Fox cut the Canadiens’ lead to 2-1 at 9:23 of the third, collecting a loose puck to the right of the goal and putting it past Fowler, who was down on the ice.
The Rangers made it 2-2 at 14:08 when Cuylle went to the net and deflected in a shot from Jonny Brodzinski in the slot.
“Our effort, I thought, was there all night long,” Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said. “It’s unfortunate the goal that beat us seemed like a nothing play.”
The Canadiens have seven games left in the regular season and still have a chance to win the division and the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. After playing at the New Jersey Devils on Saturday to conclude their current five-game road trip, they play the next four at home before ending the season with two on the road.
“I know that we have better than tonight,” coach Martin St. Louis said, “but overall, I felt we put ourselves in a spot to win a game.”
NOTES: Caufield’s second goal of the game was his 12th game-winning goal of the season, matching Lafleur (1977-78, 1975-76), Yvan Cournoyer (1975-76), Bernie Geoffrion (1960-61) and Maurice Richard (1955-56) for the second most in a single season by a Canadiens player. The only player with more is Lafleur, who had 13 in 1978-79. … It was Caufield’s 12th multigoal game of the season, which is tied for fifth most in Canadiens history. The seven-game streak is Montreal’s longest since Oct. 18 to Nov. 2, 2016 (8-0-0).