{"id":536324,"date":"2026-04-02T10:01:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T10:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/536324\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T10:01:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T10:01:26","slug":"nick-suzuki-addresses-empty-net-shot-instead-of-pass-to-cole-caufield-vs-lightning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/536324\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Suzuki addresses empty-net shot instead of pass to Cole Caufield vs. Lightning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t  &#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/655744.webp.webp\" style=\"width:100%;\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Nick Suzuki addressed the empty-net play in his media availability, explaining why he chose to take the shot himself instead of making the extra pass to Cole Caufield.\" title=\"Nick Suzuki addressed the empty-net play in his media availability, explaining why he chose to take the shot himself instead of making the extra pass to Cole Caufield.\"\/>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: Screenshot<\/p>\n<p>Nick Suzuki explained choosing to score on an empty net instead of passing to Cole Caufield as Montreal secured its sixth straight win.<\/p>\n<p>Late in the game, one sequence drew attention on the ice.<\/p>\n<p>Center Nick Suzuki took advantage of a turnover by Nikita Kucherov to head straight toward the empty net.<\/p>\n<p>On the play, Cole Caufield was skating just behind him and was wide open to receive a pass and score into the empty net.<\/p>\n<p>Many fans were likely hoping to see number 13 score his 48th goal of the season, but no.<\/p>\n<p>That goal would have brought him significantly closer to Nathan MacKinnon in the Maurice Richard Trophy race, and to the 50-goal milestone.<\/p>\n<p>Nick Suzuki addresses empty-net decision, explains choice to avoid risky pass to Cole Caufield<\/p>\n<p>On social media, some fans criticized the captain\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n<p>However, Suzuki addressed the situation during his postgame media availability.<\/p>\n<p>The captain explained that he simply feared causing another costly turnover by forcing an unnecessary pass to his teammate.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Yeah, I mean, I, when I turned it over, I saw he was like behind me, and yeah, when I picked my head up, I just had a straight shot, and I didn&#8217;t really wanna mess around with it too much, but I&#8217;ll make it up to him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Nick Suzuki<\/p>\n<p>With a direct shooting lane to the open net, taking the shot clearly became the most logical decision for him.<\/p>\n<p>Attempting an extra, more complex pass represented far too much risk in the final moments of such an important game.<\/p>\n<p>Nick Suzuki quickly promised that he will do everything he can to make it up to Caufield.<\/p>\n<p>Helping Cole Caufield reach the 50-goal milestone remains a major priority for the entire team.<\/p>\n<p>Cole Caufield, 25, has 81 points in 73 games this season. He is a 5-foot-8 forward and a first-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Previously on Montreal Hockey Fanatics<\/p>\n<p>POLL<\/p>\n<p>18 HOURS AGO|805 ANSWERS<\/p>\n<p>Nick Suzuki addresses empty-net shot instead of pass to Cole Caufield vs. Lightning<\/p>\n<p>Do you understand Nick Suzuki\u2019s decision to shoot into the empty net instead of passing the puck to Caufield?<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; &#13; Photo credit: Screenshot Nick Suzuki explained choosing to score on an empty net instead of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[971,31428,5,56664,21,4,975,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-536324","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-cole-caufield","9":"tag-empty-net-goal","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-maurice-richard-trophy","12":"tag-montreal-canadiens","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-nick-suzuki","15":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116334539478633521","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536324","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=536324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}