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Canadiens @ Kraken Top Six Minutes: Cole Caufield saves the day

Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

  • It doesn’t look like the Blue Jays will need 18 innings to tie the World Series, so despite this 11:30 ADT start it should still be an earlier night.

First period

  • A lot of play in the neutral zone in the opening minutes of this game. Neither side is generating much.
  • A shift during which the second line is making way for the third leads to the first real bit of action in the game and a few chances created off the cycle.
  • Noah Dobson seals the wall on the Kraken’s attempted breakout and works the puck to Nick Suzuki. Suzuki’s first shot is stopped, but he slings the rebound from behind the goal line, through the crease, to Cole Caufield, who nets his eighth into an open net.

Cole Caufield pots the Suzuki rebound and it’s 1-0 Habs!

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— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) October 28, 2025 at 11:59 PM

  • Caufield is called moments after the next faceoff for slashing.
  • A good kill from Montreal keeps Seattle from any dangerous chances.
  • Another shift from the top line that had the Kraken chasing leads to Montreal’s first power play of the night. Juraj Slafkovský is tripped, and it’s Ivan Demidov time.
  • It’s actually the time of the man who drew the call. Slafkovský plays in the bumper spot and gets a pass from Caufield to make it 2-0.

Oh man, beautiful passing play and Slaf jams it home

2-0 Habs!

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— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) October 29, 2025 at 12:11 AM

  • Zachary Bolduc stops up on the wall and touches the puck to Kirby Dach. Dach pulls the puck around his man, drives across the crease, and almost fires it in past Joey Daccord. The most impressive offensive play he’s made in some time.
  • Joe Veleno is going to the box for some reason. RDS slowed the play down frame-by-frame and I saw nothing. Regardless, the team that has three shots on goal is off to a second power play this period.
  • Montreal survives until the horn and takes a 2-0 lead to the dressing room.

Second period

  • Seattle couldn’t do much but pass the puck around the perimeter trying to gain some space from the aggressive penalty-killers.
  • The Kraken are essentially hanging back near their blue line trying to prevent Montreal from getting past them. Another of the periods when the Habs make their opponent look slow with their puck movement.
  • As the game crosses the midpoint, Montreal is starting to be second more often in the puck battles. Seattle is getting some more zone time but still can’t get any shots.
  • Bolduc will go off for hooking. Seattle can capitalize on its elevated play with a power-play goal.
  • Mike Matheson just got away with a high stick, so we can’t complain about the officiating anymore. Until the next call again Montreal anyway.
  • Slafkovský shrugs off contact on the boards and plays the puck at the same time (he’s doing that regularly now) and sets up Suzuki, who fires a shot off the post.
  • Jayden Struble staples his man along the boards, and that’s the end of that Kraken rush. He’s been very steady since getting in the lineup.
  • The Kraken were the better team in the period, but couldn’t get more than five shots out of it, and Montreal had the better chances. Considering how the second period has gone for them for much of the season, that was a fine 20 minutes.

Third period

  • Dobeš is called upon to make an early save on Matty Beniers.
  • Ivan Demidov is on a two-on-one with Oliver Kapanen, but can’t get the puck across to him for the one-timer.
  • Lane Hutson is tripped wheeling around his net. A Montreal power play.
  • The Canadiens can’t get in the zone. Seattle isn’t falling for the drop-pass.
  • The second unit comes on and gets the job done. It wasn’t the prettiest sequence of passes, but the puck deflected over to Alex Newhook to fire off Daccord and in for a 3-0 lead.

Alex Newhook buries the PPG and it’s a 3-0 game!

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— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) October 29, 2025 at 1:36 AM

  • Struble goes on a rush and loses the puck, and is called for hooking when he realizes he’s a long way from home.
  • Brandon Montour fires a point shot that gets tipped by Jaden Schwartz. Another point from Montour against Montreal.
  • No shutout for Dobeš tonight.
  • Two Kraken players go after Dach for a hit. Arber Xhekaj goes after two Kraken players.
  • The result is roughing minors to Dach and Jani Nyman, so the game goes to four-on-four.
  • Despite the lead, Montreal took it as a chance to attack, and I like that aggressiveness.
  • In the dying seconds of the penalties, Montour sets up a one-timer for Shane Wright, and it’s a one-goal game.
  • Now Montreal is scrambling with the puck in their zone. All the composure they had in the first 50 minutes has gone out the window.
  • Montour ties the game. The Canadiens just can’t stop him.
  • What was a 3-0 lead with eight minutes played in the third period is now a tie game. They struggle to handle a team desperate for offence.
  • A late flurry from the Evans line comes close to finding a winner, but as the clock hits 2:00 AM here the game is off to overtime.

Overtime

  • Hutson tries to win it on his own with the opening rush.
  • He just wanted to get it before Caufield’s inevitable winner. The sniper catches Daccord off-guard and banks the puck off his backside from behind the goal line for the 4-3 win.

Cole Caufield cannot be stopped in overtime…Habs win 4-3!

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— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) October 29, 2025 at 2:07 AM

  • Six points on the western road trip that should have been eight. Montreal goes to 8-3, and is 5-2 on the road this season. An exceptional start and we won’t even remember that third-period collapse.

EOTP 3 Stars

3) He’s automatic

2) The things they let go versus what they actually call sometimes is baffling

1) He must be having a lot of fun overpowering everyone

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