Cole Caufield must stop being offside on his team’s goals

If the Canadiens want to win hockey games, they absolutely must rely on Cole Caufield. He’s excellent in overtime (three goals already) and he has two power-play goals. One of them is precisely in overtime, against Detroit.

But at five on five? It’s more difficult.

Did you know that this season, in 15 games, the Canadiens’ scorer only has one goal at five on five? It’s really more difficult for him to stand out this season, in this aspect of the game.

Why am I saying this? Because the one who is (well) paid to score is more invisible when he doesn’t score. He’s not the most responsible player on the ice, let’s say… which is fine when you’re scoring.

But now, I feel that on the ice, he wants to try to cheat a bit to be able to find his groove again.

Sometimes, scorers do that and yesterday, in the CH’s 5-2 loss, that’s also what happened. The CH did not tie the game on a shot from Christian Dvorak because of an offside by Ti-Cole… and the Canucks took advantage to put the game out of reach afterwards.

It’s not ideal, let’s say.

If it happens once, it’s one thing. But it also happened against Detroit on the disallowed goal by Sean Monahan. Last November 2nd as well, Caufield was talked about for an offside on a goal.

Obviously, if the referees called the plays, it wouldn’t be an issue… but it’s mostly up to Caufield to stand up and be able not to hurt his team in important situations.

At least, Caufield also has nine assists, giving him 14 points in 15 games. But let’s say that even though he’s passing better and better, he remains first and foremost a top scorer.

However, this is not the only thing to remember from that game.

What made the Montreal Canadiens lose their game last night (in a rare Sunday night matchup) against the Vancouver Canucks, a team that is off to a good start this season?

1. Will Josh Anderson ever be able to score?

Yesterday, he worked hard. That said, even though Juraj Slafkovsky and him (13 shots in total from the two guys) played well, they were not able to score. That must be frustrating…

2. At least Josh Anderson can tell himself that if he can’t score, he’s making his opponents take penalties. He leads the league with 14 penalties drawn in 15 games.

Which means that almost every night, he sends the opponent to the box.

And yesterday, in a 12th game out of 15 this season, the CH scored on the power play. The team is in the top-10 of the NHL for power play efficiency with 23%.

That’s not nothing, that.

3. The CH may have given up five goals, but two of them were in an empty net. So it’s not because of Jake Allen that the CH lost the game.

But Casey DeSmith was better. Guess whether the CH traded the right guy– ah never mind.

4. I don’t know what’s going on with the equipment, but yesterday, Nick Suzuki and Brendan Gallagher were forced to leave the ice because their skates acted up.

It reminds us of David Savard during his “warrior shift” earlier this year… but he, he had blocked a shot.

5. Even if we’re talking about a second game in two nights, the Canadiens must learn to have a constant effort. Yesterday, the second period was tough, and that’s where the game was lost.

It’s part of the game, that.

6. The CH’s best players did not have the differential of the year. Nick Suzuki (-4), Cole Caufield (-2), and Sean Monahan (-3) were not the most dominant of the bunch, yesterday.

Mike Matheson is also at -3 in addition to playing more than 23 minutes.

Overtime

The Canadiens, who are in the middle of a streak of three games in four nights, have the day off today. It’s logical, given the busy schedule. The Sunday off is therefore on Monday, this week.

This week, the CH will host the Flames (Tuesday) and the Golden Knights (Thursday) before going to Boston on Saturday night. Will Cayden Primeau play this week or not?