Caufield, who was given a lengthy standing ovation, is the seventh player in Montreal’s history to score 50 goals in a season, and the first since Stephane Richer scored 51 in 1989-90.
“I’m not going to lie, I was pretty stressed out the past couple of days,” said Caufield, who didn't score in his previous three games. “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.”
Jakub Dobes made 17 saves, and Suzuki had two assists for Montreal (47-22-10), which has won two straight and 10 of its past 11.
“It’s fun that Cole got his 50th, Slaf got his 30th. They’re big goals, and a lot of goals,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “But I loved the way we carried ourselves. Together, but in control, too.”
The Canadiens moved two points ahead of the Lightning for second in the Atlantic Division. They are two points behind the Buffalo Sabres, who have played one more game and defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-0 on Thursday.
“That’s a playoff-type game,” Lightning forward Corey Perry said. “You never know, we might meet these guys. We did some good things and we battled.”
Darren Raddysh scored the tying goal late in the third, and Vasilevskiy made 19 saves for Tampa Bay (48-25-6), which has lost the first three games of a four-game road trip.
“That was a good game for us to experience pretty close to what playoff hockey is,” Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. “The intensity, the small plays, the importance of every puck on your stick and how close it can be.”
The Lightning were able to shut down the Canadiens' power play, which went 0-for-7. However, they also failed to score with the man-advantage (0-for-4) during a feisty game that featured 126 penalty minutes.
“We’ve got to find a way to dial in our starts a little bit more,” McDonagh said. “But we definitely know how to find our intensity and pushback and sticking up for one another. We’ve proven that time and time again. That doesn’t need to be proved anymore to anybody in this room, and it’s a shame somebody has to lose that game, because it was neck and neck at least for the last 40 minutes.
Raddysh tied it 1-1 with 1:51 remaining in the third period, scoring on a one-timer past Dobes' blocker from the top of the right circle with Vasilevskiy pulled for the extra attacker.
Slafkovsky then put Montreal back in front 2-1 just 47 seconds later. J.J. Moser's pass behind the Lightning's net was intercepted by Suzuki, who quickly passed out front to Slafkovsky for a one-timer that went under Vasilevskiy's glove.
“It was a good bounce for us,” Slafkovsky said. “‘Suzy’ made a nice play and it was a big goal. The guys did a good job on the ice, and I like how we fought until the end and got the two points.”
