Michel Goulet and Pierre Turgeon both had previous seasons with at least 50 goals in the NHL. They know this by hitting the target regularly.
But like all goal scorers, they have also gone through slower periods. She is no stranger to what Cole Caufield has experienced since the start of the season. So the Journal saw fit to call her.
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“When your team is in trouble, it becomes even more difficult because you are one of the players that people pay attention to when you lose,” the former Nordiques striker said. Nobody talks about those who score less than five goals a year. These guys score three or four times a year and are happy. But when you’re the scorer, it’s a different story.”
“It's part of the job and it's not easy to break away from it because you're always in the arena. You play or you practice,” said the former Canadiens captain.
So how did these two Hockey Hall of Fame members manage to make ends meet?
1. Stay confident
Pierre Turgeon: “It's not easy. But hockey is a series of reactions to what is happening in front of you. If you are afraid of making mistakes, you will make them. If your confidence is compromised, you won’t score.”
Michel Goulet: “Scoring goals will always be the most difficult thing in ice hockey. The important thing is to continue to believe in what you are doing. He's the type of player who could score eight goals in the next five games. As long as he stays positive and keeps his smile.”
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2. Throw to score
Pierre Turgeon: “He’s the same player, he hasn’t changed. There is a click and then everything is correct. We have to keep shooting on goal. A first baseman will go in at some point. Then five, then 10. He has too much talent not to unlock it.”
Michel Goulet: “You have to believe in what you are doing. Once you have the puck on your stick, all you have to think about is scoring. Every throw is about scoring a goal. Not just to make a throw.”
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3. Stay true to your style
Michel Goulet: “Of course it can be helpful to find other ways to score. But the most important thing is that you understand your own game, what your talent is, what makes you successful. You can't ask Caufield to run back and forth. It will not work. It would only add to the problem.”
Photo Martin Chevalier
4. Stay in the present moment
Pierre Turgeon: “One day Al Arbor called me into his office. It must have been ten games and I hadn't scored a goal. He told me: “Pierre, there are 80 games in a season. Forty at home, 40 on the road. There are three periods in a game in which you appear seven times and spend 45 seconds on the ice in each of these periods. Don't search longer than these 45 seconds. And when you come back to the bench, you forget about that presence and just think about the next one. “It helped me for the rest of my career.”
Photo Martin Chevalier
5. Focus on the details
Michel Goulet: “When I was going through a difficult time, I tried to start from the base, in my defensive zone. If I didn't score a goal, I told myself that at least I wouldn't cost my team a goal and that we wouldn't lose because of me. And when I did that, new opportunities usually presented themselves.”
Pierre Turgeon: “The battles along the ramps, getting the puck back, rushing to the net, stopping in front. We look at the goals and assists, but a lot of things happen before that. This is what it takes for the rest to happen. When you work on the small details of the game, the opportunities arise.
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6. Show determination
Pierre Turgeon: “We have to maintain a high level of competition. When you go to the corner to get the puck, you have to say to yourself, 'This is my puck. This is mine'. You don't have to hit or be physically active, but you have to be mentally imbued with that determination.”
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7. Be well surrounded
Michel Goulet: “If you have two or three trios that can score and the attack is well balanced, the opponent has more problems. There, Nick Suzuki and Caufield always play against the first pair of defenders.
Pierre Turgeon: “The Canadian’s other attackers are also having difficulties. So it is certain that he is the target (of all roofers).”
Photo Martin Chevalier
Drought on the attack
It's not just Caufield who is struggling to put the net on net among the Canadiens' attackers
Brendan Gallagher: 0 goals in the last 15 games
Mitchell Stephens: 0 goals since being recalled (6 games)
Nick Suzuki: 9 games without a goal in November
Alex Newhook: 13 games without a goal from mid-October to mid-November
Josh Anderson: 1 goal in 29 games (empty goal)
Juraj Slafkovsky: 0 goals in the last 11 games (two in the season)
Cole Caufield: 2 in the last 16 games
Christian Dvorak: 0 in the last 17 games
Michael Pezzetta: 1 goal in 20 games
Jesse Ylönen: 0 goals in the last 12 games
Tanner Pearson: 1 goal in last 22 games (before injury)
Jake Evans: 26 games between his two goals this season
Sean Monahan: 0 goals in 14 games in November