Why Canadiens’ Jakub Dobes can be a difference-maker during playoffs
For much of the season, the Montreal Canadiens looked like a quality playoff team that would most likely be done in during the playoffs by poor goaltending.
The combination of Samuel Montembeault, Jakub Dobes and rookie Jacob Fowler left much to be desired, as all three had save percentages below .900 well into the winter.
Then, around the Olympic break, Dobes turned a corner, and he’s on the sort of run that can carry a team deep into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The six-foot-four Czech net minder is on a run of six straight games with a save percentage of at least .926, and he’s won five of those games while allowing just one goal in each of his last three. The most recent two of which came against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes, two of the other top contenders to come out of the East.
On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed Dobes’ resurgence and why it’s come at the right time for him to make a name for himself in the playoffs.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Hutts I wanted to ask you with, kind of doing a vote of confidence ranking, on a number of goalies, and the way we’re doing it is the inexperienced guys who should be getting playoff games this year. So you’ve got UPL in Buffalo, Lukas Dostal in Anaheim, Brandon Bussi in Carolina, Jakub Dobes… in Montreal, Silovs in Pittsburgh, Jet Greaves in Columbus, and Vejmelka in Utah. So out of those seven names, let’s start on the positive side of things. Which one of those seven do you think kind of has the most confidence and should have their fan base feeling the most confident heading into the playoffs?
Carter Hutton: For me right now it’s Jakub Dobes. I was a bit of a hater early on, not a hater, that’s not the right way to put it. I didn’t think he was ready for this limelight, but I think he’s managing the pressure very well, and I think this is an exciting run for him. Right? And you can carry that momentum. I don’t know if he’s going to be the guy of the future with Fowler, but this is a really good duo. I think right now for Montreal, this little stretch of games he’s been on with four straight wins, he’s been unbelievable in three of those four. He’s got 35, 37, and 43 saves giving up four goals in those games. So he’s been dominant and those were against, these are the teams that where it really hits home. Two against Carolina, one against Tampa Bay, and one against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Now, talk about adding that to your arsenal just in between your ears in the sense of going into a playoff series against one of these teams.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…