Caufield finally makes NHL debut with Habs
MONTREAL — Cole Caufield finally made his NHL debut with the Montreal Canadiens against the Calgary Flames on Monday night.
The Canadiens called Caufield up from the AHL’S Laval Rocket before the start of their five-game Western Canada road trip that started with two games in Edmonton, but weren’t able to get him in the lineup because of NHL salary-cap restrictions.
Caufield and Jake Evans were both in the lineup as emergency recalls because Paul Byron (lower-body injury) and Jonathan Drouin (non Covid-related illness) weren’t able to play. To make salary-cap room for Caufield, defenceman Alexander Romanov was assigned to the taxi squad and wasn’t in the lineup. Because Caufield and Evans were emergency recalls, the Canadiens still have one call-up remaining this season.
Caufield hit the ice for the pregame warmup without his helmet on and had his hair blowing in the wind. But that wasn’t his choice.
“I was in the room and my helmet wasn’t even in sight,” he said after the game. “It was kind of a joke they pulled on me. It was just a special moment and it was fun to spend with those guys.”
Caufield played right wing on a line with centre Phillip Danault and Tomas Tatar on the left and also saw time on the power play. Caufield logged 15:40 of ice time and had four shots, tied for the team lead with defenceman Joel Edmundson.
“He didn’t look nervous at all,” Habs defenceman Shea Weber said about the 20-year-old Caufield. “I thought he played really well. He was good on the walls … especially against a team that pressures you hard and they really come down the walls quickly and hard. So, I thought he did a really good job so far and even generated a couple of chances there to get things in the net.”
The Canadiens selected Caufield in the first round (15th overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft. In 31 games this season with the University of Wisconsin, the 5-foot7, 170-pound right-winger posted 30-22-52 totals in 31 games to lead the NCAA in goals and points and also won the Hobey Baker Award as the outstanding player in U.S. college hockey.
HABS’ PLAYOFF PICTURE
The Canadiens will be happy they don’t have to play the Flames again this season.
Canadiens fans will be happy they don’t have to watch them play the Flames again.
The Canadiens battled to a 2-1 win over the Flames in Monday’s game. It wasn’t pretty to watch — none of the games involving Flames coach Darryl Sutter’s stifling system are — but it was the biggest win of the season for the Canadiens after losing the first two games of this three-game series in Calgary.
With the victory, the Canadiens improved their record to 21-17-9 and dealt a huge blow to the Flames’ playoff chances. The Canadiens hold the fourth and final playoff spot in the allcanadian North Division and are now six points ahead of the Flames. The Canadiens have nine games left in the regular season and the Flames only have eight.
The Canadiens have four games remaining against the Toronto Maple Leafs, two against both the Ottawa Senators and Edmonton Oilers, and one against the Winnipeg Jets. The Flames have four games remaining against the Vancouver Canucks, two against the Oilers and one each against the Jets and Senators.