Caufield: 'It's going to be a pretty special night'

BROSSARD - The Canadiens skated at the Bell Sports Complex on Monday morning ahead of Game 3 against the Maple Leafs.

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Following the on-ice session, forward Cole Caufield, defenseman Jon Merrill and interim head coach Dominique Ducharme spoke with reporters via Zoom.
Here are a few highlights from their respective chats:
Caufield on his emotions heading into his NHL playoff debut:
There's a lot of excitement. It's a playoff game. We need to bring the energy. I was put in the lineup to help the team win and do the things that I can. It's going to be a pretty special night.

Caufield on playing with Nick Suzuki:
We do a good job complementing each other. He's a special player. Anybody he plays with, he makes better. We had a little chemistry playing together earlier in the season. Now, we've just got to make the most of it and do whatever we can to win tonight.
Merrill on his impressions of Caufield so far:
He's a confident kid. He's not cocky, he's confident. He's sure of himself as a player and as a person, which is really refreshing to see. He doesn't walk around like he's better than anyone, but he definitely walks around and knows that he can make an impact. We're excited to see what he can do tonight and we all have the utmost confidence that he's going to come in and do a job for us.

Merrill on the Maple Leafs' offensive depth, beyond Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner:
It's just their style of play. They're a good team and they come at you in waves. It's not so much the individual players that we're worried about. Our focus is on ourselves and what we need to do as a team.
Ducharme on his lineup changes for Game 3:
Tomas Tatar will play, but we haven't made a final decision regarding our lines. Eric Staal won't play because he isn't 100 percent healthy. I want players who are 100 percent tonight.

Ducharme on his expectations of Caufield in his first postseason game:
We like his speed. We know that he's a player who can get his shot off quickly and score goals. By watching the first two games in Toronto, he saw the difference between the regular season and playoffs. We feel that he's ready to play. He's one of the 18 players who'll play in front of Carey tonight and we want to be at our best.