MONTREAL 鈥� In the midst of a horrendous season, the Montreal Canadiens gave their fans one glorious moment Monday night: A 5-2 thumping win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Interim head coach Martin St. Louis decided to pair two of his stars, Josh Anderson and Cole Caufield, on a line with Nick Suzuki and it paid off instantly.
Both Caufield (one goal, two assists) and Anderson (two goals, one assist) combined for three-point nights. On his end, Caufield notched his fifth goal in six games during St. Louis鈥� tenure.
鈥淚 think he trusts me,鈥� Caufield said of St. Louis. 鈥淗e鈥檚 putting me out there in situations to succeed and I鈥檓 playing with two great players too so that helps. He trusts my game and I think that's the biggest part for me. I just have to keep playing the right way and it鈥檒l keep going like that.鈥�
St. Louis compared Caufield and Anderson鈥檚 partnership to his relationship with former Tampa Bay Lightning teammate and new Canadiens special adviser Vincent Lecavalier.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important that these guys know that someone is looking out for them to not get manhandled on the ice,鈥� St. Louis said. 鈥淲hat I like about Andy is his speed, obviously his size, but he can play the game too. It鈥檚 not just about adding size, you have to add someone who can complement them and someone that can stop the play. Tonight was a great example of what this line can do.鈥�
鈥淚 think we all complement each other,鈥� Anderson said of his linemates. 鈥淲e all bring something different to the table and, for me, I'm just trying to find open space when they have the puck and try to create room for them too.鈥�
The Maple Leafs (32-14-3) allowed five or more goals for their second straight game, losing both. For Auston Matthews, the Leafs need to look inward to find what went wrong on Monday night.
鈥淚 think we just made it difficult on ourselves,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey work hard and we know what to expect from their team. They鈥檝e got good players on that side and we just didn鈥檛 bring it tonight.鈥�
For Morgan Reilly, Toronto has allowed too many odd-man rushes from their opposition and they鈥檒l need to go back to the drawing board to fix the issue.
鈥淚t's been a common theme,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think if you look back at our last couple of weeks in terms of the chances against off the rush, as a defenceman you鈥檝e got to take some responsibility on trying to make good defensive plays on those instances. But as a group, we鈥檝e got to do a better job of trying to limit those.鈥�
Jake Muzzin left the game injured and was taken to the hospital after an awkward collision with Chris Wideman. The defenceman won鈥檛 play in the second back-to-back games Tuesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets and will stay in Montreal.
Rem Pitlick added Montreal鈥檚 fifth goal while Brendan Gallagher chipped in two assists giving Montreal a three-game winning streak. Samuel Montembeault made 35 saves from 37 shots.
Ilya Mikheyev and Pierre Engvall scored for the Maple Leafs. Petr Mrazek allowed five goals from 25 shots.
The Canadiens (11-33-7) broke the ice early thanks to Anderson鈥檚 presence in front of Mrazek鈥檚 net. The forward pushed off his defender and tapped the puck past the Toronto netminder.
Montreal ended the first period with a bang when Caufield scored on a one-timer from Anderson.
The Canadiens kept pouncing on their rivals with three goals in the second period.
Hoffman took 38 seconds to score in the second period. On the rush, Hoffman skated all the way down to the right faceoff circle and his shot deflected off Mrazek increasing Montreal鈥檚 lead to three goals.
Caufield and his linemate combined once again helping Anderson score his 12th of the season.
The Habs added another late second period goal when Brendan Gallagher sent a cross-ice pass for Pitlick on a two-on-one leaving the Leafs with a five-goal mountain to climb in the third period.
The Leafs attempted to climb that mountain with two quick goals in the third. Mikhevyev deflected Morgan Rielly鈥檚 shot from the point at 15:17. Then, Engvall鈥檚 wrist shot beat Montembeault 45 seconds later but Toronto ultimately ran out of time and left the Bell Centre with a 5-2 loss.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 21, 2022.
Tristan D'Amours, The Canadian Press
