Suzuki and Caufield driving hot start for Canadiens, fuelling Olympic dreams

MONTREAL — The official play-by-play record from Thursdayâ€s overtime thriller at the Bell Centre reveals two of the biggest plays Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield made on the night, though “block, snap, def. zone†doesnâ€t quite capture what made them so big.

The NHL doesnâ€t even reveal that those blocks came 160 feet away from where they connected on the winning goal seconds later, but at least the timestamp indicates the relevance of those plays.

First, it was Caufield, with 49 seconds to go, stepping in front of Steven Stamkos†shot, deflecting the puck out of play to save Canadiens teammate Mike Matheson from the most vulnerable position one can be in at three-on-three — stickless in your own zone. And then, on the ensuing play, Suzuki lost the faceoff, but not his man. The Canadiens†captain stood his ground and then perfectly timed his flash out to the slot to block another Stamkos shot that sprung Matheson on the rush up ice that sparked the winning goal with three seconds remaining. 

Suzuki drove the goal line and pushed a backhand pass to Caufield in the slot, and then he watched as Caufield tied the franchise record for most overtime goals with his 10th.

“What impresses me the most is how complete they are, on top of being dangerous offensively,†said Martin St. Louis.

The whole overtime sequence encapsulated that, and hopefully Team Canada and Team USA architects got a chance to see it — and not just the highlight-reel goal that came of it.

If they didnâ€t already feel how St. Louis did after watching Suzuki and Caufield carry the Canadiens to an unexpected playoff berth last season with a post-4 Nations FaceOff performance that was otherworldly, they should be feeling it through the first five games of this season.

You know theyâ€re watching closely with roster submissions for the Olympics due by Dec. 31.

The Canadiens are 4-1-0, and those executives have seen Suzuki and Caufield play leading roles — at both ends of the ice — in them establishing that record. 

Itâ€s the start this team wanted to have, and itâ€s the start both Suzuki and Caufield needed to have in their quests to ensure they arenâ€t passed over again for best-on-best competition. They had to watch the last overtime between their respective national teams from the sidelines, but they could both be facing off in the next one if they keep going like this.

About that last one, it was settled by Connor McDavid, the worldâ€s best player.

Canadiens defenceman Lane Hutson, and fellow USA hopeful, thinks the next one could be settled by Caufield, who tied Thursdayâ€s game by beating a red-hot Juuse Saros with 20 seconds to go in regulation before winning it as time was expiring.

“They need someone to score and, in those big moments, thatâ€s something he can bring,†said Hutson about Caufield. “Not only that; I think he generates so much at five-on-five, and heâ€s a threat on the power play.

“I think when you give him some good players to play with, he makes them even better and he shines through. Just the skill, and the work ethic, and the scoring threat that he is, I think he should be on that team.â€

With respect to those who pulled off the 1980 Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid, N.Y., the team going to the Milano-Cortina Games is shaping up to be the greatest American one ever assembled for Olympic ice hockey. Caufield knows heâ€s got an outside chance of cracking it, but heâ€s been making a break towards the inside since hockey resumed post-4 Nations.

With 16 goals, heâ€s the fourth-highest American scorer since then. Heâ€s No. 1 in game-winners with six. And Hutson (plus-21), who saved a goal before setting up Caufieldâ€s game-winner Thursday, is the only American whoâ€s put up a better plus-minus rating than Caufieldâ€s plus-16.

How has Suzuki done over the same period? Heâ€s tied for the eighth-most goals amongst Canadians (15) and leads the NHL in points (44) and his countrymen in plus-minus (plus-19).

Forget the play-by-play record of Thursdayâ€s game. If you had watched Suzuki in isolation through three periods and then watched what he did through that entire overtime — over which he had three shot attempts and a block before registering his NHL-leading seventh assist this season — youâ€d have seen exactly whatâ€s made him one of Canadaâ€s best players over the last number of months.

Heâ€s been unquestionably Montrealâ€s best.

“Thatâ€s our driver,†said Caufield. “Heâ€s a special player that lives for those moments and leads the way by example… 

“He does it all. Not many people can play both sides of the puck so well, and his game is pretty special right now, and we see it every day in practice and his detail on the D-side of the puck. Everybody knows how well he does with the puck and stuff, but his play away from the puck — heâ€s definitely pretty annoying to play against in practice and I know most teams donâ€t like playing against him.â€

Caufield has been carving out the same niche, and both he and Suzuki have proven to be two of the most clutch players in hockey. 

Theyâ€re two players with incredibly high baselines of performance, and they always seem to rise above that when the stakes get higher.

St. Louis did that to become a Hall of Famer. It earned him a spot on Canadaâ€s 2014 gold medal-winning team. He knows what goes into it.

“The major thing is confidence,†he said, “and wanting to be the guy that makes the difference.â€

Suzuki and Caufield are showing thatâ€s the stuff theyâ€re made of.

Itâ€s propelling both the Canadiens and their Olympic dreams forward.

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