Empty net: It was Cole Caufield who asked Martin St-Louis not to be put in

Félix Forget
Empty net: It was Cole Caufield who asked Martin St-Louis not to be put in
Credit: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

Will Cole Caufield score his 50th goal of the season tonight? That's the talk of the town right now.

The sniper, who has scored 28 goals in his last 27 games, now has 49 goals to his name since the start of the season. We're witnessing a special season… and tonight, he could join the select club of players who have scored 50 goals in a single season while wearing the Habs' jersey.

And he could also become one of the few active players to have done so without scoring a single empty-net goal.

And in fact, the topic of empty-net goals has been a hot topic around town for a while now. Many people would like to see Caufield get the puck when the opposing team pulls their goalie to help him catch up to Nathan MacKinnon for the NHL scoring lead…

But according to Maxim Lapierre, who discussed this on Hockey with an Accent this week, there's a reason why that isn't the case: Caufield himself asked Martin St-Louis not to be used in those situations.

The reason? He wants to score his 50 goals the right way.

Remember that on Tuesday night, we saw Caufield rush onto the ice after the Lightning pulled their goalie (and the Habs were leading by two goals). However, it was Nick Suzuki who scored at that moment to put the game out of reach.

Caufield was more focused on his defensive play during that sequence. And that spoke volumes about the fact that he has his priorities straight despite his push toward 50 goals (and the Maurice Richard Trophy).

It's worth noting that, according to Lapierre, the plan might change in the final games of the season if Caufield is still at 49 goals (and one can assume that would also be the case if he has a real chance of overtaking MacKinnon for the league's top-scorer title). But as long as the sniper keeps scoring so consistently, we shouldn't expect to see him scoring goals on an empty net.

To be continued, then… but this is a fairly convincing explanation for those who were wondering why Caufield isn't often on the ice in situations where the opponent has pulled their goalie.


In a nutshell

– Speaking of Caufield.

– The Buffalo Sabres are officially back in the playoffs.

– Demidov leads the way for the 2025-26 season.

– I like that.

– Great news.

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