Cole Caufield picked David Pastrnak's pocket Thursday night and the Bruins are still trying to figure out how to stop him.
The Canadiens winger went in alone on a breakaway at TD Garden, made it 4-0 and ended Jeremy Swayman's night in the Boston crease. Boston lost 5-2, and the Habs moved atop the Atlantic with a 12-game point streak.
Marco Damico described the sequence this way:
Caufield has a bigger problem for Boston than one bad turnover. HabsOnReddit pointed out that he now has 12 goals in 15 career games against the Bruins.
Ty Anderson put that run in historical context. Caufield is the first player to score 12 goals in 12 games against Boston since Auston Matthews, and just the second player to do it since 2005.
That's a lot of Bruins goalies and defensemen who have had to watch the same man skate away from them. Caufield stands 5'8, and he still seems to find the one lane Boston leaves open.
Is Caufield now the Bruins' biggest problem in this rivalry?
The numbers say yes. SportsnetStats noted that no Canadiens player in the history of the franchise had scored in 8 straight games against the Bruins until Caufield did it.
Think about how many great Habs have worn that sweater against Boston. None of them did what Caufield just did.
The goal itself also showed how Boston's night went sideways. Pastrnak lost the puck in a spot where a Bruins star can't afford to, and it turned a 3-0 game into a rout.
Caufield finished with 4 shots on goal and played 18:06. He has 12 goals through 19 games this season, so the pace isn't limited to Boston.
Boston doesn't get long to dwell on it. The Bruins host the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, and the group in the locker room has one more reminder of what Caufield can do when he gets a clean look.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.
What should the Bruins do to stop Cole Caufield next time they face Montreal?
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