{"id":516915,"date":"2026-03-22T16:30:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T16:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/516915\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T16:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T16:30:16","slug":"canadiens-week-ahead-schedule-storylines-caufield-chase-suzuki-consistency-slafkovsky-hot-streak-and-more-the-hockey-writers-montreal-canadiens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/516915\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadiens Week Ahead: Schedule & Storylines – Caufield Chase, Suzuki Consistency, Slafkovsky Hot Streak and More – The Hockey Writers – Montreal Canadiens"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Canadiens\u2019 fanbase is buzzing right now. The team is in the middle of a fiercely competitive playoff race, and their young stars are putting up massive numbers. Here are the key storylines surrounding the team and their upcoming schedule for the week of March 22-29, 2026.<\/p>\n

Cole Caufield\u2019s Chase for 50 Goals<\/p>\n

The biggest story right now is Cole Caufield. Coming off an electric Saturday night hat trick<\/a> in a 7-3 blowout win over the New York Islanders, Caufield is sitting at 43 goals for the season. <\/p>\n

The dominant narrative this week will be whether he can hit the elusive 50-goal mark for the first time in his career.<\/p>\n

A Sizzling Atlantic Division Playoff Race<\/p>\n

The Canadiens (38-21-10<\/a>) currently have 86 points. They are in a dead heat in the Atlantic Division, tied in points with the Boston Bruins. Every single game this week has massive postseason implications as they try to hold onto their spot.<\/p>\n

Nick Suzuki\u2019s Historic Consistency<\/p>\n

Captain Nick Suzuki has officially hit the 80-point mark<\/a> for the second consecutive year. He is the first Canadien to record back-to-back 80-point seasons since Vincent Damphousse did it in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

Juraj Slafkovsky\u2019s Hot Streak<\/p>\n

Juraj Slafkovsky is making headlines of his own, having recently hit the 25-goal milestone<\/a> while riding a six-game point streak. He has become a vital piece of Montreal\u2019s dynamic top six.<\/p>\n

Canadiens Upcoming Schedule <\/p>\n

The upcoming week is a major test for Montreal. They will wrap up a homestand against two very different opponents before heading out for a grueling back-to-back road trip. Facing the formidable Carolina Hurricanes twice in five days will be the true barometer of their playoff readiness.<\/p>\n

DateOpponentLocationTime (EDT)Tuesday, March 24Carolina HurricanesBell Centre (Home)7:00 PMThursday, March 26Columbus Blue JacketsBell Centre (Home)7:00 PMSaturday, March 28Nashville PredatorsBridgestone Arena (Away)7:00 PMSunday, March 29Carolina HurricanesLenovo Center (Away)5:00 PM<\/p>\n

AI tools were used to support the creation or distribution of this content, however, it has been carefully edited and fact-checked by a member of The Hockey Writers editorial team. For more information on our use of AI, please visit our Editorial Standards<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Canadiens\u2019 fanbase is buzzing right now. The team is in the middle of a fiercely competitive playoff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5103],"tags":[265,971,5,976,264,21,5147,4,975],"class_list":{"0":"post-516915","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-montreal-canadiens","8":"tag-canadiens","9":"tag-cole-caufield","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-juraj-slafkovsky","12":"tag-montreal","13":"tag-montreal-canadiens","14":"tag-montrealcanadiens","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-nick-suzuki"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516915","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=516915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}