becoming the first Canadiens since Vincent Damphousse to score 40 goals in a season<\/a>.<\/p>\nIt was a magic moment and it came on the type of spectacular play that has become the norm for this team. Defenceman Lane Hutson spun around the offensive zone like (to steal Yvan Cournoyer\u2019s nickname) the Road Runner being chased by Wile E. Coyote. He then zigzagged in and sent the puck back to captain Nick Suzuki, who fired a pass right on the blade of \u201cClutch\u201d Caufield\u2019s perfectly positioned stick at the side of the net.<\/p>\n
Boom. 40 goals. And just as importantly, a huge win over the Big Bad Bruins.<\/p>\n
I had migrated up the street to have dinner and a Guinness (or two) at Maison Publique McLean\u2019s \u2014 up the street from the other McLean\u2019s \u2014 with my son Keane and his friend Ben, and the joint just erupted when Caufield scored the OT winner.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first Canadiens\u2019 40-goal-scorer in our lifetime,\u201d shouted Ben to Keane.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re both 25. So yeah, it was a moment.<\/p>\n
Their D might not be perfect, there may be question marks about the goalies, but there\u2019s no denying this Canadiens team delivers the drama. Now let\u2019s see if they can still do that in the hard-nosed, gritty, in-your-face playoffs where the officials will let just about everything except murder go uncalled.<\/p>\n
Prior to the game, fans at McLean\u2019s were mostly saying they followed MAD Magazine mascot Alfred E. Neuman\u2019s famous dictum: \u201cWhat, me worry?\u201d<\/p>\n
John Ennis, who came to Montreal from Edmonton to catch a few Habs games, said the team will be just fine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just so excited about watching this team,\u201d said Ennis. \u201cIt\u2019s so much more entertaining and exciting, and I think it\u2019s just the beginning. There are so many guys on this team that are going to gel at the same time. They are fun to watch. I\u2019m worried about them making the playoffs but I think they\u2019re also worried about making the playoffs. And I think they\u2019re going to make the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carlo Gentille said he\u2019s not worried at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019re fighting, I think it\u2019s alright if they hit some (bumps in the road), and they have the opportunity to catch fire at the right time,\u201d said Gentile. \u201cI think they play better when they\u2019re against the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n
John Dufresne, however, is quite concerned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goaltending is so-so and the defence is a bit spotty sometimes,\u201d said Dufresne. \u201cI think they won\u2019t make it. You know what happened? When the (trade) deadline came around, they didn\u2019t do anything. They should\u2019ve gotten an experienced goalie and a good defenceman.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anthony Therrien, who said he\u2019s distantly related to former Habs coach Michel Therrien, thinks they\u2019ll pull through and make the playoffs. But he did say he was worried about the lack of experience of the goalies. He gave the goalies a five out of 10.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we make the playoffs, who\u2019s going to be the goalie?\u201d asked Therrien. \u201cWe don\u2019t know. It\u2019ll be complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n
bkelly@postmedia.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oh, what a night! On St. Patrick\u2019s Day Tuesday an hour before puck drop, I was standing in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5103],"tags":[2002,233,95,265,971,230,20125,198,5,502,264,21,5147,4,975,25,59735,1885,168,534],"class_list":["post-510394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal-canadiens","tag-alexandre-texier","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-boston-bruins","tag-canadiens","tag-cole-caufield","tag-columbus-blue-jackets","tag-defensive-play","tag-edmonton","tag-hockey","tag-lane-hutson","tag-montreal","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-montrealcanadiens","tag-nhl","tag-nick-suzuki","tag-ottawa-senators","tag-patrick-hutchinson","tag-playoff-berth","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-st-louis"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116252674898945785","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}