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 la.