Scary scene: panic at the Habs bench after Cole Caufield takes a puck to the face

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David St-Jean
May 27, 2026  (9:02 PM)

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Photo credit: Screenshot

Cole Caufield walking down the Bell Centre tunnel mid-game is the last image Martin St-Louis needed circulating in Game 4 against Carolina tonight.

The clip making the rounds shows Caufield calmly collecting a deflected puck off the bench, then heading straight off the ice and into the locker room with the play still live behind him.

Cole received a puck to the face and went straight to the room.

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For a player who lives on the power play and feeds off rhythm, disappearing into the tunnel mid-period is the kind of thing fans notice immediately.

And Habs fans notice everything right now. They're watching this series slip in real time.

Montreal trails Carolina 1-2 after dropping back-to-back overtime games at home, 3-2 and 3-2 again. Two heartbreakers. Same building. Same ending.

Caufield has 5 goals and 7 assists across 17 playoff games this spring, but he's sitting at a -7 rating and the underlying impact has dipped.

Over his last five games, he's posted 1 goal and 3 assists. The shooter isn't shooting like a 51-goal scorer. He looks like he's pressing.

Carolina has zeroed in on him every shift. Bodies in his lane. Sticks on his hands. The clean looks he feasted on in the regular season are gone.

That's the part St-Louis has to solve before puck drop. Either get Caufield space through movement, or accept that Nick Suzuki and the Hutson line carry the offense again.

The series math is brutal. Lose tonight and Montreal heads back to Raleigh down 1-3, with elimination looming Friday.

Win, and suddenly it's a best-of-three with home-ice flipped against them but momentum back in play. Everything funnels into one shift, one bounce, one save.

The tunnel clip will get forgotten if Caufield buries one early. If he doesn't, that little moment becomes the symbol Habs Twitter rewinds all summer.

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Previously

Bad news for Stan Bowman: it's now over for Oilers' top coaching candidate

Brady Tkachuk traded to Minnesota for a surprising player in jaw-dropping proposal

Stan Bowman reveals bigger plans for long-term signed forward

POLL

1 HOUR AGO   |   53 ANSWERS Scary scene: panic at the Habs bench after Cole Caufield takes a puck to the face Should Martin St-Louis move Cole Caufield off the top line for Game 4 tonight?

▢    Yes

▢    No

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