Habs Highlights: Caufield Scores Again, Thompson Frustrates

The Montreal Canadiens hosted the Washington Capitals on Saturday night, giving them an opportunity to extend their winning streak to three games for the first time in 2024-25.

It wouldn’t be easy, as the Capitals have enjoyed quite a resurgence this season, and are among the NHL’s best clubs. Even without Alex Ovechkin in the lineup, the Capitals are still one of the most dangerous teams in the NHL from an offensive standpoint.

Thankfully, the Canadiens would be able to count on Patrik Laine, who started his tenure in Montreal by scoring two goals in as many games, not to mention goaltender Samuel Montembeault, who has been lights out for the Canadiens after a relatively slow start to the season.

The Habs got off to a great start thanks to the top line, spread headed by one of Alex Newhook’s best games of the season, as well as yet another goal from Cole Caufield, but the Capitals took over in the third period, emerging with a 4-2 win.

Let’s dive into the highlights!

You Always Need a Hook

When the Canadiens traded a first and second-round pick for Newhook, the prevailing feeling was that the Habs had traded for a sure thing while spending variable assets. And there was a certain level of logic to the argument. Newhook is capable of playing in the NHL, while most players picked in the NHL’s Entry Draft never make it to the big show.

That being said, the mere fact that the Colorado Avalance traded him after winning a Stanley Cup was somewhat of a red flag. His upcoming contract extension was likely the main reason. They were willing to move on, because they were not prepared to hand him a significant raise, leaving that to the Canadiens once the trade was complete. But there were also other issues brought up after the trade, including his lack of consistency and his affinity for avoiding high-traffic areas. Those same issues have resurfaced in Montreal, and it’s only fair to suggest Newhook has to take the next step in his career if he’s to be an important part of the team’s rebuild plans going forward.

He’s young, and there’s plenty of time for him to find his rhythm, particularly now that he’s playing on the team’s top line, alongside Nick Suzuki and Caufield. However, coming into Saturday’s game, Newhook had not registered a single point in the last five outings, most of which he featured on the first line.

It’s always important to stay patient with younger players on a rebuilding team. It’s not easy to lose way more often than you win, but at one point, players have to offer a little something beyond hopes and dreams.

That’s why Newhook’s goal to open the game, his sixth of the season, was exactly what the doctor ordered, both for the player and the team. Not only did it allow the Canadiens to once again play with a lead, a rare occurrence that’s becoming a little more common in recent games, but it also pushed all the anxiety and frustration regarding his play to the back burner, allowing Newhook to loosen his death grip on his stick, which should improve his overall play moving forward.

Newhook will have to provide much more offence to mitigate his defensive issues, and Saturday night was a great start toward accomplishing that crucial goal.

Alex Newhook scores his sixth goal of the season after Caufield drove the offensive zone.

1-0 #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/m3DHqDnoki

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) December 8, 2024

American Sniper

Newhook’s speed was on full display prior to the team’s second goal, which was scored by none other than Caufield, the very same player who was snubbed by Team USA despite being the country’s best goalscorer.

Look, I’ll eventually stop poking fun at the USA for their galaxy brain decision to snub Caufield and Tage Thompson for older players who don’t even come remotely close to making the same impact as the younger players who will be watching the tournament from their couch, but today is not that day.

For the record, now that he has scored his 17th goal of the year, Caufield has more goals than Team USA forwards Chris Kreider or Vincent Trochek have points this season. Full disclosure, that was also true before he scored his 17th, but my new year’s resolution was to be as petty as possible this year, and time is running out.

Speed through the NZ by Newhook leads to this Cole Caufield goal. Good work by Suzuki to capitalize on the loose puck.#GoHabsGo up 2-0 on the Capitals. pic.twitter.com/6hN20OAC0P

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) December 8, 2024

Pushing It To The Limit

While the Canadiens have been playing a much more entertaining and efficient style of play in recent weeks, there’s still a significant gap in talent when you compare their lineup to most other teams, and that certainly includes the Capitals, even without Ovechkin in the lineup.

Unsurprisingly, the Capitals managed to tie the game in the third period thanks to goals from Pierre-Luc Dubois and Tom Wilson, while Logan Thompson shut down four or five breakaways from various Habs players, including Suzuki. I don’t mean any disrespect to Montembeault, but I would have named Thompson as Team Canada’s starter from the very get-go, before Jordan Binnington or Adin Hill, as he’s clearly the best option Canada has between the pipes.

As for the result, on some nights, you can be frustrated with the effort level from Martin St-Louis’ team, but that wasn’t the driving force behind the third-period surge by the Capitals. Sometimes, the better team dominates a period.

And that brings us to the penultimate goal of the game,  yet another from Wilson when his team needed it most. In this particular case, David Savard’s pass is to blame, but I still maintain that overall, the Canadiens played a fairly good game against a much stronger opponent.

Washington scored another goal shortly afterwards while on the powerplay, securing a 4-2 win in the process.

Wilson scores another goal, giving the Capitals a 3-2 lead.

He’s also chewing on a baseball while scoring his goals (wait for it at the end of the clip).

He looks like a dog that decided to check out a beehive. That can’t feel good. pic.twitter.com/xgOxKOepdi

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) December 8, 2024

The Montreal Canadiens are back in action on Monday. They will host Jacob Trouba and the Anaheim Ducks at the Bell Centre, with the puck drop scheduled for 7:30 pm ET. All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted.