Canadiens’ Dobes Earns Shutout over Champion Panthers in Debut

In a battle of backups, the unlikelier of the two won out, in grandiose fashion no less. Montreal Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes earned a 4-0 victory over the Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers and Spencer Knight in a Saturday matinee exiting the holiday break.

More significantly, it was Dobes’ first NHL game. He became the fourth Habs goalie ever to pull the trick and the first since Yann Danis on Oct. 12, 2005, while visiting the Atlanta Thrashers, which says all you need to know regarding the historical significance of the feat in question.

Dobes had been called up from the Laval Rocket the day before, largely as a result of Cayden Primeau’s ineffectiveness backing up Sam Montembeault up to this point. Primeau has since been placed on waivers after having posted a 2-3-1 record with a 4.70 goals-against average (GAA) and .836 save percentage (SV%) this season.

Game Recap

It remains to be seen how the Canadiens play Dobes moving forward, but both the highly touted Primeau’s lack of success this season and Danis’ 55 total NHL games offer sobering reminders that anything can happen. Regardless, Dobes played well. His first big test was an Anton Lundell wrist shot from the slot about five minutes in. Another big save came off a Sam Bennett shot at the lip of the crease a few minutes into the third period, at which point the score was already 3-0, on the strength of two goals from Kirby Dach and a shorthanded goal by Jake Evans, marking the fourth straight game the latter has scored. For additional context, Dach now has four goals total, in what has been a struggle of a season so far.

Dach opened the scoring by finishing off a tic-tac-toe play 1:39 into the second. Following a pass from Kaiden Guhle, Alex Newhook found Dach at the opposite side of the net for the tip-in. Newhook also assisted on Dach’s second, sending him in alone on a breakaway about 10 minutes later. Evans meanwhile scored on a two-on-one break with Joel Armia, opting to shoot for the 3-0 goal, at 17:19 of the frame with Christian Dvorak off for slashing. Cole Caufield closed the scoring late in the third, with his 99th career goal, in close on Knight, off a pass from Juraj Slafkovsky. Overall, Knight stopped 21 shots. Dobes made 34 saves.

The 22-13-2 Panthers, who entered the game tied for first place in the Atlantic Division, next host the New York Rangers on Monday. The now-15-17-3 Canadiens visit the Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow evening. Take note: The game has an early 5 p.m. Eastern start time.