Cole Caufield’s 2 goals too much for Rangers in 3-2 loss to Canadiens
The New York Rangers became the latest team victimized by Cole Caufield this season, in a 3-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.
Caufield scored his 48th and 49th goals of the season, the latter his League-leading 12th game winner, with 5:05 remaining in the third period, to help Montreal extend its winning streak to seven consecutive games. Only Colorado Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon has more goals (50) than Caufield this season.
The Rangers (31-36-9) lost for the first time in four games, but only after they climbed out of a 2-0 hole in the third period on goals by Adam Fox and Will Cuylle. It was third time in three games against the Canadiens this season that the Rangers erased a 2-0 deficit. They rallied to win each of the first two meetings, but Caufield didn’t allow that same outcome this time.
The low-event and scoreless first period was largely played on even terms. Though, there was a distinct missed opportunity by the Rangers, who had a four-minute power play when Juraj Slafkovsky was assessed a double-minor for high-sticking Vladislav Gavrikov at 7:21, and failed to score.
Cuylle did ring a shot off the post during the power play. And then in the final minute of the period, the Rangers had an excellent chance at even strength, but Canadiens goalie Cam Fowler snuffed out Conor Sheary one-on-one down low.
The Canadiens had a slight 8-7 shots advantage in the opening period, but gradually had their way more often in the second period, when they out-shot the Rangers 11-5 and scored the first two goals of the game.
A Sheary turnover in his own end wound up on the stick of Ivan Demidov, leading to the first goal of the night. The rookie quickly zipped a pass to Alex Newhook, who wasted no time wiring his 12th goal past Igor Shesterkin at 4:36.
Shesterkin had even less of a chance stopping Montreal’s second goal, which came 1:44 after the first one. Montreal outworked New York deep in the offensive zone, before Slafkovsky’s touch pass between his legs found Caufield alone in the right circle. In an eye-blink, the puck was off Caufield’s stick and up high into the back of the Rangers net, beating Shesterkin blocker side with his 48th goal to make it 2-0 Canadiens.
Caufield was unable to move any closer to his first 50-goal season, at least for the time being, because Shesterkin stoned him twice on the doorstep four minutes into the third period.
Those clutch saves proved even bigger, when Fox made it 2-1 at 9:21 of the third. Mika Zibanejad, Gabe Perreault and Gavrikov created havoc in front of the Montreal net, and, with Fowler scrambling, Fox banked a shot off the goalie and into cage.
More crease chaos contributed to New York’s tying goal 14:07. Cuylle charged into the crease and was rewarded when Jonny Brodzinski’s shot caromed off Fowler, then ricocheted off Cuylle and over the goal line to tie the score.
But their good fortune was short-lived. Caufield scored an absolute beauty at 14:55, rushing up left wing, before cutting to the middle, and wiring a shot between Shesterkin’s pads — despite Gavrikov’s best efforts at defending the Canadiens star.
After the Rangers pulled Shesterkin for the extra attacker, Cuylle had a good look off the rush with just under a minute to play that was swallowed up by Fowler. And with under 20 seconds to go, there was a scramble by the Montreal net, but neither Cuylle nor Vincent Trocheck could get the puck past Fowler, sealing New York’s first loss in four games on this sevn-game homestand.
Key Takeaways after Rangers lose 3-2 to Canadiens
J.T. won’t stir controversy on GWG
Nick Suzuki cleanly beat J.T. Miller on a face-off in the Canadiens end of the ice, allowing Montreal to execute a set play on the breakout, when defenseman Mike Matheson whipped the puck around the boards to Caufield, who caught it in the neutral zone and took off in full flight towards the Rangers net. You know how that turned out.
What you may not know is that Miller was caught flat-footed questioning the linesman in the circle because it clearly appeared to be a false start on the face-off. No dice. This one wasn’t coming back. And it ended up being the difference in a one-goal game.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Miller said postgame, when asked about the incident. “There’s a lot that goes on in the game. I have a lot of respect for [linesman] Dan [Kelly]. I’ve known him a long time. It’s a moment that nobody wanted to have for me and him, and sorry, we’ll leave it at that.”
It should be noted that prior to the game, Miller received the Rod Gilbert Mr. Ranger Award for honoring “Rod’s legacy by exemplifying leadership qualities both on and off the ice and making a significant humanitarian contribution to his community.”
Cool break through
Cuylle ended a season-high 13-game goal drought and had an overall strong night. the 24-year-old finished with five shots on goal, eight shot attempts, and a team-high six hits. He’s now fourth on the Rangers with 17 goals this season, and is three shy of equaling the career-best 20 goals he scored last season.
Cuylle was asked postgame if he was worried his goal could be disallowed since he made contact with Fowler.
“I thought [the Canadiens] might challenge it once they called the timeout,” he explained. “But when I saw it, it looked like it was already basically in the net when I hit the goalie, so wasn’t too worried.”
Cuylle reached two milestones with the goal — it was his 50th goal in the League and his 100th NHL point.
No kids allowed
Rookie forwards Adam Sykora, Noah Laba, and Jaroslav Chmelar skated together on the fourth line, but only took 11 shifts together, including just three in the second period. As such, the popular and energizing threesome didn’t factor much into this game.
Sykora did record four hits in a team-low 7:16 TOI. Chmelar was not very noticeable with just over eight minutes of ice time. Laba was more involved, since he also logged 1:10 of power-play time and was out there on the penalty kill, as well.
It seemed a bit odd that coach Mike Sullivan didn’t deploy his buzzsaw rookie line a bit more often, given their collective impact lately, especially during the three-game winning streak.
