With the Montreal Canadiens down 3-1 late in the third period in Carolina, Andrew Shaw took a pass from Andrei Markov and beat Cam Ward to make it a one-goal game.

It was Markov’s 435th regular-season assist, pulling him into a tie with Yvan Cournoyer for seventh on the organizational leaderboard.

Rank Player Assists 1 Guy Lafleur 728 2 Jean Beliveau 712 3 Henri Richard 688 4 Larry Robinson 686 5 Jacques Lemaire 469 6 Saku Koivu 450 7 Yvan Cournoyer 435 7 Andrei Markov 435 9 Maurice Richard 421 10 Elmer Lach 408

Stats via hockey-reference.com.

A career-long Hab, Markov has already cemented his place as one of the best defencemen to ever play for the team, and is making an argument to be considered one of the greatest players the franchise has ever had.

Next up on the assists list is Saku Koivu, who finished his time with Habs having recorded 450 helpers. It’s possible that he could catch Jacques Lemaire before the end of season for fifth place, currently 34 assists behind.

Thanks to Heather Engel for being the first to mention the milestone being reached.