Canadiens’ Faith in Jakub Dobes Has Only Grown Despite Game 4 Loss
Written By Gina Anton
MONTREAL — Even in a 4-0 loss that pushed the Montreal Canadiens to the brink of elimination, Jakub Dobes walked off the ice Wednesday night with something few players earn this quickly in Montreal: complete trust from the Bell Centre crowd.
Late in the third period of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final, with Dobes pulled for the extra attacker, Hurricanes forward Nikolaj Ehlers rang a shot off the crossbar. Dobes had nothing to do with the play, but the Bell Centre crowd still erupted into chants of “Dobey! Dobey! Dobey!”
Moments later, the rookie goalie appeared on the scoreboard with roughly 20 seconds remaining, drawing another massive ovation from the 20,962 fans in attendance despite the Canadiens trailing 4-0 and facing a 3-1 series deficit against Carolina.
“I mean, it’s been unbelievable,” Dobes said afterward. “My family is here and they’re loving every second of it. Really grateful for what I have and how much the fans love me and love our team. I will never take that for granted.”
Dobes turned 25 on Wednesday and joked that Bell Centre had become his birthday party. The result was disappointing for Montreal, but the rookie goaltender was hardly the reason why.
He finished with 40 saves on 42 shots and kept the Canadiens competitive for long stretches despite another heavy Carolina attack. Through four games in the series, Dobes has faced 107 shots over the last three contests alone, an average of nearly 36 per game.
“He was good,” Canadiens forward Alex Newhook said. “Yeah, we hung him out to dry.”
Montreal’s biggest collapse came late in the first period when Carolina scored three goals in a span of 2:47.
Sebastian Aho opened the scoring on a power-play one-timer at 14:59 after Ehlers found him with a cross-ice pass. Just over a minute later, Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal redirected a pass in front after winning body position against Josh Anderson. Logan Stankoven added another on a 2-on-1 rush at 17:46.
“It’s on everyone,” Dobes said. “It’s on me. It’s on the guys. It can’t happen. That killed us and we couldn’t come back.”
While Dobes accepted responsibility, his teammates pointed elsewhere.
“It seemed like the only guy that showed up was ‘Dobey,’” defenseman Lane Hutson said.
The numbers back up Dobes’ importance to Montreal’s playoff run. Through 18 postseason appearances, he owns nine wins, a 2.53 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage. Against Carolina, despite the volume of chances against him, his save percentage sits at .919.
Just as important for Montreal, Dobes has not lost confidence in the group around him.
“I feel like we’ve been the underdog the whole season, the whole playoffs, so we are super underdog right now,” Dobes said.
The Canadiens now head to Lenovo Center for Game 5 on Friday needing a win to keep their season alive. Dobes believes the pressure could bring out the team’s best performance of the series.
Montreal may be one loss away from elimination, but the reaction inside Bell Centre on Wednesday made one thing clear: the Canadiens have found a player their fans believe in.
Even in defeat, Dobes earned the loudest cheers of the night.
