Caufield scores 50th goal of season for Canadiens

Cole Caufield scored his 50th goal of the season on Thursday, becoming the first Montreal Canadiens player in 36 years to hit the milestone.

Caufield scored at 6:30 of the second period against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Bell Centre in Montreal. He took a pass from Nick Suzuki on a rush and beat Andrei Vasilevskiy blocker side from the right circle to make it 1-0.

“It was cool to have my dad in the building, and to see his reaction was pretty special and it means a lot,” Caufield said. “But it’s obviously a huge win for us and I think one that I will always remember.”

It was his 29th goal in his past 31 games, though he had gone three games without scoring.

“I’m not going to lie, I was pretty stressed out the past couple of days,” Caufield said. “But that’s what makes this place so special and that’s why it’s so cool for me and my teammates and coaches and family to kind of take this in and enjoy it. Honestly, it felt like it was never going to come for a couple of days. It was three games and it felt like forever, but I’m just glad it’s kind of over with now and we can get back to work. We’ve still got a couple more big games left.”

He is the seventh player in Canadiens history to score at least 50 goals in a season, joining Maurice Richard, who became the first player in NHL history to hit the mark in 1944-45. Following Richard, Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion had 50 in 1960-61, Guy Lafleur hit the milestone in six straight seasons (1974-75 through 1979-80), Steve Shutt had 60 goals in  1976-77, Pierre Larouche had 50 in 1979-80, and Stephane Richer had 50 in 1987-88 and 51 in 1989-90.

Caufield, 25, is two goals behind Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon in the race for the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy, which is awarded to League's leader in goals.

No Canadiens player has ever won the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy, which was unveiled on Jan. 24, 1999, as a gift to the NHL from the Canadiens. In fact, since the trophy was unveiled, Caufield is the only Canadiens player at score at least 40 goals in a season.

After he scored two goals in a 3-2 win at the New York Rangers on April 2, Caufield was asked whether scoring his 50th goal and catching MacKinnon was on his mind. Caufield quickly said, “No,” but after a pause, he gave an enthusiastic, “Like yeah,” drawing laughs from the media.

“I just say the same as our coach, we’re focused on our team game and winning games, and I think individual stuff comes with that," he said. "Obviously, it helps when you’re winning games, but you’d be crazy not to know what’s going on around the League.

“So again, still hungry. A couple more games to go.”