Post Game 44: They did it again

The Montreal Canadiens got it done again in crunch time with a late goal from Cole Caufield beating the New Jersey Devils 3-2 on Wednesday night.

The Devils have been one of the more disappointing teams in the league and have been ravished by injuries but looked prime to complete a comeback from down 2-0 after a pair of powerplay goals early in the third period.

Montreal got great goaltending from Sam Montembeault (surprise, surprise) and Caufield scored the game winner late, from the edge of the crease.

This had all the makings of a let down game after a huge win over the Colorado Avalanche on Monday. But once again, they found away to surprise everyone.

Pluses:

• Juraj Slafkovksy continues to come out of his shell scoring his sixth goal of the season. And it’s goals in back-to-back games. If you haven’t seen this one yet, go check out the highlight… Caufield’s pass to Slafkovsky was a thing of beauty.
• Joshua Roy was able to just kind of blend in during his first couple games in the NHL. In game number three, the puck was following him around and he was much more noticeable. And Roy was rewarded with his first NHL goal.
• Sam Montembeault played one of his best games of the season and that’s saying something. He had no chance on either of the goals the Devils scored and stood on his head at times.
• Clutch Caufield now has six game winning goals on the season and is tied for third in the league behind only Sam Reinhart and Elias Pettersson. Head coach Martin St Louis was full of a praise for his young sniper. “He’s not just waiting for the puck to come to him, he’s going to the game. He’s not just on the perimeter and tonight was a great example of that.”

Minuses:

• Canadiens got a little careless with their sticks at times. And it eventually led to Nick Suzuki’s double minor for high sticking. New Jersey scored twice on that powerplay.
• Montreal was outshot and heavily out chanced and once again relied too much on their strong goaltending.

Montreal next game will be on Thursday night in Ottawa taking on a Senators team that has struggled this season.