Canadiens Sniper Makes History

When Cole Caufield scored the overtime game-winning goal on Thursday night, it was more than just the goal that helped the Montreal Canadiens beat the Utah Mammoth; it also helped him set a new NHL record.

With that lamplighter, the 15th of his career in overtime, he became the fastest player in league history to score 15 overtime goals. The American winger took just 384 games to reach that milestone. In the process, he overtook some elite players in the 15-overtime-goals club. Connor McDavid held the record until Thursday night, having needed 559 games to reach the milestone. Sebastian Aho is now in third place; he needed 645 games to reach the 15-OT-goal club, while Alexander Ovechkin did it in 653 games.

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In other words, it took Caufield 175 games less than it took McDavid to score 15 OT goals. The mark needs context; the young Canadiens haven’t always been good at closing out a game in regulation or protecting a lead, which gave Caufield plenty of opportunities to score overtime goals. Not trying to take anything away from the sniper, but Montreal has struggled to win in regulation for quite a while.

In 2020-21, the Habs only had 17 wins in 60 minutes; in 2021-22, the Canadiens were dead last in regulation wins with just 16. The year after, in 2022-23, they were 27th in the league with 21 regulation wins. In 2023-24, they were 28th with just 20 victories before extra time. In 2024-25, they climbed to 21st place with 30 regulation wins; last season, they were ninth in the league with 34.

In 2020-21, despite playing only 10 regular-season games, the sniper scored two overtime goals; in 2021-22, Caufield added two more. In 2022-23, he played only 46 games and scored no overtime goals. In 2023-24, he had 3, followed by 1 the following year, five last season, and two in just 16 games this year.

Whichever way you slice it, Caufield remains an incredibly clutch player, and the Canadiens can thank their lucky star that he fell all the way to 15 in the 2019 draft. Given how many goals he can score, it shouldn’t surprise anyone when other players try to get him off his game, just like MacKenzie Weegar did on Thursday night.

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