NHL: Growing chemistry with Slavkowski; Coffield is in a specific club

Cole Caufield joined a select team by scoring the winning goal for the Montreal Canadiens in Wednesday’s 4-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The No. 22 took advantage of a comeback from a shot by Christian Dvorak during an exaggerated attack to fire into an open cage with 5:52 left in the second period.

Caufield (145) became the fifth player in CH history to reach 60 goals before his 150th game, succeeding Huey Morenz (74), Maurice Richard (83), Jean Beliveau (132) and Joe Benoit (135).

Juraj Slavkovski also had an assist in this sequence, and Caufield sees the chemistry developing on the second line.

“The more we play together, the better we get. Communication on the ice and on the bench is improving. He’s still young and there will always be things to improve on, but I like the direction things are going and he’s fun to play with,” Caufield said.

“He has been playing well lately. He brings confidence and we can see his confidence with the puck. He will continue to grow and we are very proud of him.”

During the first confrontation between the two teams, on October 26, the Canadians won 4-3 in overtime after a goal scored by Caufield in the last minute. This time, the Blue and White were able to complete the task in regulation time for only the fourth time this season.

“We had a good start, we had to limit turnovers and maintain possession. We simplified things after that and it went well,” Caufield explained.

“We had a good record on the road (6 points out of 10, editor’s note), but we can improve on some things. We played good teams and we’re happy to come home with a win. I really liked our third period even though it was close, we can build.” On that for tomorrow,” he concluded with the game against the Panthers in mind.

Head coach Martin St. Louis particularly appreciated the teamwork.

“I liked all our lines, we had a goal from each of the first three lines and the fourth was excellent. It was a victory for the team, and everyone did their part. We always try to find depth and chemistry within the team, and we succeeded in that tonight.”