Montreal Canadiens forward Cole Caufield continued to establish himself as a perennial scoring threat in the NHL on Saturday, breaking a mark set by franchise-leading-scorer Guy Lafleur. In scoring two go-ahead goals against the Washington Capitals in the Habs’ 6-2 victory at the Bell Centre, he tied and then broke Lafleur’s record of 20 (scored in a single season).
Lafleur had set the record in the team’s 1977-78 Stanley Cup-winning season when he scored 132 points and a career-high 60 goals. Now with 35 on the season, Caufield is currently two off his career-high 37, which he reached last season. Arguably more significantly, he’s five away from 40. Reaching that mark would make him the first Canadiens player since Vincent Damphousse in 1993-94 to score 40. Overall, he’s on pace for 49, with Stephane Richer representing the last Canadiens player to score 50 in 1989-90.
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Caufield opened the scoring against the Capitals 30 seconds into the contest, beating goalie Charlie Lindgren on a breakaway. That represented No. 34 on the season and his 20th go-ahead goal. He scored No. 35 (and the record-setting 21st go-ahead goal) at 14:19 of the first, one minute and change after Caps forward Alexander Ovechkin had tied the game at one apiece.
Ovechkin scored another goal in the game to make it 4-2 late in the game. The Canadiens countered with goals from Caufield’s linemates Kirby Dach and Nick Suzuki, fellow-forward Jake Evans and defenseman Mike Matheson. Caufield currently has 60 points in 59 games so far this season. With his two goals against the Capitals, he also tied Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan Mackinnon for the most goals in the league scored on Saturdays.
