{"id":551751,"date":"2026-04-13T11:00:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T11:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/551751\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T11:00:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T11:00:51","slug":"canadiens-suzuki-joins-exclusive-club-notches-100th-point-in-win-over-islanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/551751\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadiens’ Suzuki joins exclusive club, notches 100th point in win over Islanders"},"content":{"rendered":"

ELMONT, N.Y. \u2014 It took 81 games for Nick Suzuki<\/a> to break a 40-year drought and become the first Montreal Canadien<\/a> to record 100 points in a season since Mats Naslund, and it\u2019s possible no one truly saw it coming but Suzuki himself.<\/p>\n

You could tell he\u2019d be good long before he was drafted 13th\u00a0overall by the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017, but few would\u2019ve predicted he\u2019d be this good. It was unforeseeable when he arrived in Montreal\u2014in the 2018 trade that sent Max Pacioretty to Sin City\u2014that he\u2019d become one of five players in Canadiens history to hit this milestone. And even if it was easier to imagine when Suzuki broke out with 89 points last season, it still felt like a fantasy he\u2019d ever breach 100.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re a little kid, you think of doing things like this,\u201d said Suzuki, \u201cand it\u2019s definitely special.\u201d<\/p>\n

It certainly was when Guy Lafleur and Peter Mahovlich became the first Canadiens to do it in the 1974-75 season.<\/p>\n

They combined to repeat the feat six more times (Lafleur on five other occasions and Mahovlich just once) through the end of the 70s, with Steve Shutt also hitting the club in 1976-77.<\/p>\n

Then came Naslund in 1985-86, notching 110 points for a team that went on to win the Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n

The Canadiens have been searching for a player as prolific ever since.<\/p>\n

Vincent Damphousse teased with 97 points over his first 84 games with the Canadiens in 1993-94.<\/p>\n

Then Pierre Turgeon became the first Canadiens captain to hit 96 in a season just two years later.<\/p>\n

He was at the Bell Centre Saturday when Suzuki notched his 99th\u00a0point, and he told Sportsnet before it came that he was astounded by the progress he\u2019s seen from the player since he arrived in Montreal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love him,\u201d Turgeon said. \u201cHe\u2019s got the hockey sense, he plays so well defensively, and he\u2019s just got it all. And what I like is that when the game is on the line, there\u2019s guys that can stand up and make the difference, and he\u2019s definitely the guy that can do it. Some guys have a harder time doing that, but he always finds a way to step up and make the big assist, win the key battle, or score the big goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suzuki\u2019s 29th\u00a0of the season broke a 0-0 tie in the 16th\u00a0minute of the second period of Sunday\u2019s Canadiens-New York Islanders game at UBS Arena.<\/p>\n

His 72nd\u00a0assist came just 28 seconds later, making this his 29th\u00a0multipoint performance of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take a lot of pride in just playing the right way and not really worrying about points,\u201d Suzuki said.<\/p>\n

The player who set him up with his 100th\u00a0in the 4-1 win that ended the Islanders\u2019 playoff push said that\u2019s exactly why Suzuki was able to do this.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always playing for the team,\u201d said Juraj Slafkovsky, \u201cand when you do that, you get rewarded, and the game gives back to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s rewarded Suzuki in the way he thought it might, as both he and the Canadiens were making their ascent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think as we kept building this team and the talent that we were acquiring and the chemistry that we were building, definitely saw a lot of potential in that,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of fun playing with these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slafkovsky, who now has 30 goals and 43 assists in just his fourth NHL season, is one of those guys.<\/p>\n

Cole Caufield, who became the first Canadien to score 50 goals since Stephane Richer did it in 1989-90, is another.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s Lane Hutson, who recorded his 65th\u00a0and 66th\u00a0assists Sunday to tie Larry Robinson for the most among Canadiens defencemen in a single season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a really special group, with a lot of special players,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cSeems like there\u2019s some type of record all the time with this team. It\u2019s really crazy. But it comes with a lot of work behind the scenes and a lot of dedication through the summers and through the seasons. We\u2019re a hungry group, and we continue to get better, which is an awesome thought to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another is that he is the driving force behind it all of it, and he\u2019s just one year into the prime of his career.<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re Slafkovsky, Caufield, Hutson, or David Reinbacher, who registered his first NHL point in his league debut Sunday, that\u2019s a comforting feeling.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a true leader,\u201d said Reinbacher of his captain. \u201cHe\u2019s the head of this group, and he just brings a high (level) of calmness.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s enabled Suzuki to dominate the toughest matchups night in, night out, making him the fifth-highest scorer in the NHL and the leading candidate for this year\u2019s Selke Trophy as the league\u2019s best defensive forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember (Sergei) Federov winning the Selke, and he was an offensive player too,\u201d said Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis. \u201cI think it takes an honest game, and that\u2019s what Suzy brings.\u201d<\/p>\n

He brings a consistent one, too, partly because he\u2019s always available to play.<\/p>\n

Suzuki hasn\u2019t missed a game since stepping into the league 536 games ago, and what he\u2019s done over his last 81 has added another dimension of reliability.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s only been held off the scoresheet in 18 of those games, and he\u2019s only had two sequences of consecutive games without a point.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe should be proud,\u201d said Turgeon. \u201cHe\u2019s fun to watch, and it\u2019s fun to see what\u2019s he\u2019s been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not many would\u2019ve predicted Suzuki would be doing it, no matter how many points he scored in the Ontario Hockey League before debuting with the Canadiens in 2019.<\/p>\n

The progression has been linear ever since, with 41 points notched through those first 71 games, followed by 41 in 56 the following year.<\/p>\n

Suzuki then put up seasons of 61, 66, 77 and 89 before hitting and passing 100, and he\u2019s got one more game to get to 102 and beyond.<\/p>\n

And though Suzuki has done it all with great humility, he\u2019s always envisioned himself accomplishing the kind of great things so few have accomplished before him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose guys are just legends of the game, and this organization\u2019s been around for so long and had so many great players that I\u2019m kind of shocked it\u2019s only that many guys that did that,\u201d Suzuki said of joining the Canadiens\u2019 100-point club. \u201cIt\u2019s special for me to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ELMONT, N.Y. \u2014 It took 81 games for Nick Suzuki to break a 40-year drought and become the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[5],"class_list":{"0":"post-551751","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-hockey"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116397057273105291","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551751","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=551751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}