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GOTTA SEE IT: Tortorella Reacts To Cole Caufield’s Buzzer-Beater

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1 year ago

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Cole Caufield

When Cole Caufield scores, you can’t help but admire the talent, even when you’re John Tortorella.

Caufield sent the Bell Centre faithful into a frenzy by scoring a game-tying goal with just two seconds left in the third period.

Once again, the scoring chance arose due to yet another fantastic pass by Suzuki, his 12th assist of the season. The two combined for what will likely be one of the more memorable and feel-good moments of the season.

The entire Bell Centre was on fire, as these late-game heroics are becoming more and more frequent. The incredible momentum generated by the Canadiens’ dynamic duo is simply too impressive to ignore.

Even Philadelphia head coach John Tortorella broke character from his usual angry mug, sporting a hockey fan’s smile and a look of disbelief that coaches around the NHL have had on their faces whenever Caufield and Suzuki go to work in the late stages of a game.

Right before that, Cole Caufield’s first goal, his 10th of the season, was made possible by some smart passing between Mike Hoffman and Kirby Dach, but even though he did not end up registering a point on the play, Nick Suzuki deserves a fair amount of praise for his work in front of Carter Hart.

It also led to a very interesting statistic.

With 38 goals in 95 games, only Jean Béliveau, Maurice Richard, and Boom Boom Geoffrion scored more goals than Cole Caufield prior to their 100th game in the NHL.

Caufield is on pace to score close to 50 goals this season, a feat that hasn’t been done in a Canadiens jersey since Stéphane Richer did it in the 1989-1990 season. It’ll take a lot of good luck and consistency to get there, but even crossing the 35-goal mark would be an impressive feat for the youngster.

Should he crack the 40-goal mark, Caufield would be the first to do so since Vincent Damphousse in 1993-1994 and would cement himself as the best sniper the team has had in the last 30 years; which honestly feels like a formality at this point.

Just ask Torts!

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