Dobes Backstop Canadiens To Big Win Over Oilers

After losing a game they should have won against the New York Rangers on Saturday night, the Montreal Canadiens had a chance for redemption as they hosted the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday night at the Bell Centre. Martin St-Louis kept his cards close to his chest all day, not revealing who would be in the net after Jacob Fowler played the last two games until less than an hour before the game.

Interestingly, he chose to give the start to Jakub Dobes, who had watched the last two games from the press gallery. At the same time, Samuel Montembeault served as backup, just like he has in the previous six games, his last start dating back to December 2 against the Ottawa Senators.

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Martin St-Louis’ intentions with his goaltenders are not very clear right now. Montembeault has struggled since the start of the season; Dobes cooled off after a hot start; and Fowler showed he could play in the big leagues when he took on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday. Will Montreal decide to keep three goaltenders? Or will they send one down to the Laval Rocket?

If they chose the latter option, Fowler and Dobes would be the most likely candidates since they do not need to clear waivers to go down, but the Czech rookie netminder did his very best in the first frame to show St-Louis that he belongs with the Canadiens.

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Speaking about his netminder, the coach said:

I think it gave him a lot of confidence to get through those two minutes; it gave the team a lot of confidence as well. I know his character, I’m not surprised. It doesn’t tell me much because I’m not surprised.

– St-Louis on Dobes’ performance

He’s not as positionally sound as Fowler, and the way he tends net ends up being more exciting at times, which is not ideal, but he put on a goaltending clinic when the visitors got a two-minute five-on-three power play early…