The Montreal Canadiens are rolling to begin the new season.
The Habs rallied for their fourth consecutive win on Thursday night, a 3-2 overtime victory over the Nashville Predators, and have surged to the top of the Atlantic Division after dropping their season-opener to the Toronto Maple Leafs last week.
Trailing by a goal in the late stages of the third period Thursday night, Cole Caufield found the back of the net with just under 20 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime.
In the extra frame, the American winger struck late once again – this time with just two seconds left on the clock – for his second overtime goal in as many games to secure the victory for the Canadiens.
With the game-winning marker, Caufield tied Max Pacioretty and Howie Morenz atop the franchise list with his 10th career overtime goal, also becoming the fastest player in league history to reach the mark after just 292 career games.
“It’s pretty cool,” he said after the game. “It’s a lot of overtimes we’re playing in, but it’s 10 wins, so that’s good.”
The Canadiens’ 15th-overall selection in the 2019 draft has scored at a torrid pace to begin the new season, and is tied for third in the league with five goals behind Shane Pinto of the Ottawa Senators and Vegas Golden Knights winger Pavel Dorofeyev.
Montreal captain Nick Suzuki recorded a primary assist on Caufield’s game-winner Thursday, his seventh helper through five games played on the year.
Suzuki extended his point streak to four games in the win, and is now tied with Toronto Maple Leafs winger William Nylander for the second-most assists in the league.
“I thought he gave a pretty good pass right before that too,” Caufield said of Suzuki’s performance on Thursday. “Stuff like that happens, and it doesn’t always go in. You’ve got to cherish these moments.
“Nick is obviously a special player and a great friend of mine, so hopefully there’s many more of those to come.”
But it isn’t just the top line that’s been responsible for Montreal’s early-season success.
Zack Bolduc and Oliver Kapanen have each potted three goals, while Brendan Gallagher and Mike Matheson have chipped in with four points apiece to help fuel the Canadiens’ offence.
“We’re winning games, we’re doing a lot of good things, but there’s still a lot of improvements we could make,” Gallagher said amid the winning streak. “[We] have to be hungry to make those adjustments. It’s still early in the season; nobody is where they want to be at but I think we’re moving in a good direction.”
“Still have things to work on,” defenceman Kaiden Guhle echoed. “Still things to tweak, but the results have been good so just can’t get comfortable with that. Got to keep staying hungry.”
Montreal has scored 3.6 goals per game, tied for the third-best mark in the Eastern Conference this year. That number can reasonably improve as the season goes on as Suzuki, Gallagher, Patrik Laine, Josh Anderson, and Jake Evans continue to look for their first goals of the season.
The Canadiens will look to continue their winning ways with a pair of home games coming up against the New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres, before heading out west for a four-game road trip.