It’s really hard to believe this was only the second NHL game for Jakub Dobes.
The 23-year-old goalie allowed only one goal Saturday night in Colorado as the Canadiens beat the Avalanche 2-1 in a shootout. Dobes stopped 19 shots in regulation time, three more in overtime and then stopped Jonathan Drouin and Mikko Rantanen in the shootout.
Kirby Dach scored the winning goal in the shootout after Cole Caufield scored on the Canadiens’ first attempt and then Nick Suzuki missed on the second. Rantanen opened the scoring for the Avalanche with a power-play goal in the first period and Caufield tied it up with his 21st goal of the season at 13:25 of the third period. Caufield has now scored in three straight games and in four of the last five and is on pace to finish the season with 44 goals.
But Dobes was the first star in this game — just like he was in his NHL debut last Saturday when he stopped all 34 shots he faced in a 4-0 win over the Panthers in Florida a day after getting called up from the AHL’s Laval Rocket. Dobes now has a 2-0 record in the NHL to go along with a 0.48 goals-against average and a .982 save percentage.
The Canadiens improved their record to 18-18-3 and they are now only one point out of the final wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference after going 4-1-0 on their five-game, post-Christmas road trip. They are 7-2-0 in their last nine games.
The Avalanche saw their six-game win streak come to an end as their record fell to 24-15-1.
“I just feel like the energy from the guys, seeing the guys playing five games in a row (on the road) and they come to the rink and they are smiley, they are full of energy,” Dobes told reporters in Colorado after the game. “It’s just like: All right, let’s do it. I’m looking at the guys and I’m just kind of feeding off of them and going into the third (period) I kind of knew we might pull the comeback. It’s just on the guys, pretty much. I just feel good being around them.”
Montreal fans have reason to feel good about this team right now.
Kirby Dach must also be feeling good about himself after scoring three goals in the last five games, plus the shootout winner. Head coach Martin St. Louis showed confidence in Dach — who has struggled badly for most of this season — by having him shoot third in the shootout and by scoring Dach must have given himself a big confidence boost.
For the second straight game the Canadiens were playing without forward Patrik Laine (flu-like symptoms) and defenceman David Savard (upper-body injury).
The Canadiens got off to a slow start and fell behind 1-0 when Rantanen scored on the power play at 9:01 of the first period with Alex Newhook in the penalty box for slashing. The shots on goal were 5-0 for Colorado at the time.
Mike Matheson got Montreal’s first shot 14 seconds after Rantanen scored, but by the end of overtime both teams had 23 shots on goal. It was another impressive performance by the Canadiens, especially since they played Friday night in Chicago, losing 4-2 to the Blackhawks despite outshooting them 40-26.
The Canadiens gave Dobes a lot of help against the Avalanche by blocking 20 shots, led by nine from defenceman Kaiden Guhle. The Avalanche came into the game averaging 29.6 shots per game to rank ninth in the NHL.
“It was a shaky start, for sure,” Suzuki told reporters in Colorado after the game. “A lot of guys sacrificing their bodies, blocking shots. Doby making big saves. It was a fun win to have in the shootout there.
“I thought the guys just stuck with it the whole time,” Suzuki added. “We didn’t really try to change anything. Weren’t trying to cheat the game. We have to play well defensively against that team, especially when their big guys are on the ice. It’s just a mature effort from us and found a way to get it into overtime and get a win in the shootout.”
The Canadiens had to play the last 1:44 of the third period and the first 16 seconds of overtime short-handed after Guhle was penalized for holding the Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon. It was a call that infuriated St. Louis, but his players responded by killing off the penalty.
Dobes looked calm, cool and collected throughout the game — and it also helps he’s 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds, filling up much of the net. Midway through the third period, Dobes made a big glove save, then dropped the puck to the ice and made a long breakout pass to Brendan Gallagher. This goalie does not lack confidence.
After making a glove save on Drouin on Colorado’s first shootout attempt, Dobes threw the puck into the corner — something former Canadiens goalie Carey Price might have done.
Again, this was only Dobes’s second NHL game.
St. Louis will have a tough decision to make when the Canadiens play the Vancouver Canucks on Monday at the Bell Centre (7:30 p.m., Prime, RDS): Does he start Dobes again or go with Samuel Montembeault.
That’s a nice problem for a coach to have.