MONTREAL – Sequence of saves from Jakub Dobeswhen it Montreal Canadiens needed it most as they scored a penalty, having lost all the momentum they had gained in the first 25 minutes of the game against Buffalo Sabers: First on a Tage Thompson breakaway, then on a sharp shot from Rasmus Dahlin, then with a paddle to break up a two-on-one play, and finally with a skate to quell a Peyton Krebs jam.
The 24-year-old made 30 stops on Monday, but these four were the most timely.
Without them, the Canadiens would not have been able to beat the Sabers 4–2 and finish the Bell Center game with a 3–1–0 score that improved their record to 5–2–0 on the season.
They put together a bunch of little plays that ended up being big plays. There was Alex Carrier's position in the first period at the offensive blue line, where he took a hit, held his position, stepped on the puck to freeze it – while being attacked by three Sabers – before passing it to Alex Newhook, who jumped Ivan Demidov and Oliver Kapanen at halftime, which led to Montreal's first goal. And it was all Jake Evans, Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher did to get the Canadiens back in their game before Evans scored into an empty net, created by a desperation block from captain Nick Suzuki.
Lane Hutson, who scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal, had earlier praised Carrier for his intelligence on Kapanen's goal.
And then Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis had this to say about Evans, Anderson and Gallagher: “To me, Jakey's line is a momentum line. I thought they spent a lot of time in the offensive zone. It didn't start with pretty plays through the neutral zone, and we need that. Especially at home when you have games and you can have a line that can play against the top line of other guys as well as give momentum… I feel like their simplicity helps my match.”
St. Louis wasn't asked about Dobs, but he would credit the goaltender's simple efficiency as a major factor in the win.
Dobes wasn't quite the same Dobes we saw when he started his NHL career last season with a 5-0-0 record. The guy was electric, he was on point, he went out of his way to make both easy and difficult saves look difficult, and displayed a level of desperation that quickly endeared him to his teammates.
The guy we saw on Monday was better. And he combined his natural combativeness with some technical skill to hold off the Canadiens when they were losing the story.
“I think I like a lot of the things we’ve been working on,” Dobs said. “I feel like this season I'm really compact and I'm not opening up as much as I used to. I feel technical, maybe you guys can't see it, but I feel like I'm a lot better than last year. Last year I felt a little clunky, but this year I feel more compact and thinner and just feel a little better than last year, that's for sure.”
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His confidence is growing at the right time, which helps the Canadiens moving forward and gives rookie Samuel Montembeault time to regain some of his confidence.
A bit of a letdown was a slow start to the season, with Montembeault allowing 13 goals in four starts and failing to make the timely saves the Canadiens needed in their only two losses.
Before Monday's game, St. Louis said Dobes deserved to start.
After Monday's game, it's easy to conclude that Dobs deserves better. He's 3-0-0 and has a .939 save percentage after allowing just five goals on 82 shots, and that's after not allowing a goal in the preseason. Riding the hot hand while allowing Montembeault to warm up again seems logical.
Encouraging competition between both goalies is also a good thing, and earlier in the day St. Louis said it was in favor of it.
“I think it’s a competitive league,” the coach said. “There will always be internal competition… We feel comfortable with both goalkeepers, but there will always be internal competition no matter what position you play. The players want more.”
And St. Louis needs its players to strive for more.
Dobs did it post after post on Monday, and he'll have to keep it up. Especially with a compressed schedule that would already force the Canadiens to rely on him more than last season.
From now on they relied almost exclusively on Montembault.
The Becancourt, Que., native ultimately appeared in 62 regular-season games before tearing his groin in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Montembeault's minutes need to be utilized more this season and Dobs allows them to do so.
“We’re 82 games in, we have two good goalies,” St. Louis said. “Are they both going to be on top all year? No, so you manage that. You manage their workload and their performance.”
“This is what we do.”
It would be much more difficult now if Dobs had not taken on this task.
But the Ostrava, Czech Republic native did so on Monday and has earned confidence that he can be used more regularly.
