Picking up a rebound near the end of the second period of Wednesday night’s game, Montreal Canadiens forward Cole Caufield climbed to the top of the team’s scoring leaderboard with his seventh on the year.
At the same time, the 22-year-old, known for his offensive prowess, also carved himself a spot in the Canadiens’ record books.
His latest goal, which came against the Columbus Blue Jackets, was already the 60th of his career. And since he completed the impressive feat in just 144 games, he joins a very short list of Habs greats who managed to hit the milestone before the 150-game mark.
In fact, Caufield’s the first Montreal player to score 60 goals with less than 150 games under his belt in decades — and only the fifth in the past 100 years.
The last player to do it was none other than beloved captain and legend Jean Beliveau, who got it done in just 132 games during the 1954-55 season.
As for the rest of the rest of the select few, the full list is as follows:
- Howie Morenz — 74 GP
- Maurice Richard — 83 GP
- Jean Beliveau — 132 GP
- Joe Benoit — 135 GP
- Cole Caufield — 144 GP
While passing the likes of Morenz and the Rocket was never likely in the modern era, beating out Beliveau would’ve been entirely possible had Caufield not hit a slump shortly before the quarter mark of the ongoing season.
As of now, Caufield, who started the 2023-24 season on a hot streak, is on pace to score between 20 and 25 goals over 82 games.
That’s decent for most NHLers, but just last year, the young sniper was on an 82-game pace for 46 goals, scoring 26 before an injury took him out in January.
Streaks and slumps aside, though, there’s absolutely no doubt that the Wisconsin native can put the puck in the net.
They don’t call him Goal Caufield for no reason.
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