MONTREAL — The official play-by-play record from Thursday’s overtime thriller at the Bell Centre reveals two of the biggest plays Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield made on the night, though “block, snap, def. zone” doesn’t quite capture what made them so big.
The NHL doesn’t even reveal that those blocks came 160 feet away from where they connected on the winning goal seconds later, but at least the timestamp indicates the relevance of those plays.
First, it was Caufield, with 49 seconds to go, stepping in front of Steven Stamkos’ shot, deflecting the puck out of play to save Canadiens teammate Mike Matheson from the most vulnerable position one can be in at three-on-three — stickless in your own zone. And then, on the ensuing play, Suzuki lost the faceoff, but not his man. The Canadiens’ ca