{"id":346740,"date":"2025-12-15T12:56:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T12:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/346740\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T12:56:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T12:56:08","slug":"dobes-rebounds-for-big-win-as-canadiens-hold-off-mcdavid-oilers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/346740\/","title":{"rendered":"Dobes rebounds for big win as Canadiens hold off McDavid, Oilers"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2014 Jakub Dobes<\/a> needed a strong performance after consecutive poor showings.<\/p>\n

Six minutes into Sunday\u2019s game, the Montreal Canadiens<\/a> goalie was staring down Connor McDavid<\/a> and the Edmonton Oilers<\/a> on a two-minute 5-on-3 power play \u2013 an early test against one of the NHL\u2019s most dangerous units.<\/p>\n

Dobes stopped five shots during that stretch \u2013 including a highlight-reel robbery on Zach Hyman<\/a>, two dangerous looks from Leon Draisaitl<\/a> and a break from McDavid \u2013 on his way to a 27-save outing in Montreal\u2019s 4-1 win.<\/p>\n

\u201cStay confident, try your best, compete,\u201d Dobes said of his approach in that moment. \u201cYou watch them all the time, you kind of know what they look for.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the 24-year-old rookie played it down, others gave him his due.<\/p>\n

The Oilers\u2019 power play has been nearly unstoppable for years and currently ranks third in the NHL at 30.6 per cent. On Sunday, it went 1-for-5, largely thanks to Dobes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was huge for us for right from the start on that 5-on-3,\u201d defenceman Mike Matheson<\/a> said. \u201cThat kill gave us a lot of momentum and he was the best player on the ice for that kill, so a lot of credit and he gave us a lot of energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Edmonton Oilers<\/a> defenceman Mattias Ekholm<\/a>: \u201cHe (made) some spectacular saves.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he did it under added pressure.<\/p>\n

Dobes played for the first time since Tuesday\u2019s dismal 6-1 defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a>, a loss that prompted the recall of up-and-coming netminder Jacob Fowler<\/a> and raised questions about Montreal\u2019s direction in the crease.<\/p>\n

Dobes said he tried to block out the noise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was playing a lot, so I was glad that I got a little bit of rest and hit the reset button,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m only 24 years old, it\u2019s hard to play a lot of games in a row.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhoever is in the net and is successful for us, that\u2019s all that matters. We are really three good goalies and we just need to stay together, trust each other and don\u2019t listen to anything really. Just trust the work and stay confident and play for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fowler backstopped the Canadiens to a 4-2 win over Pittsburgh with 36 saves in his NHL debut Thursday, then lost his first game Saturday as Montreal squandered a 3-0 lead in a 5-4 overtime defeat to the New York Rangers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old American \u2013 widely viewed by fans as the Canadiens\u2019 goalie of the future \u2013 was expected to spend his first professional season with the American Hockey League\u2019s Laval Rocket as part of his development.<\/p>\n

But the lack of saves from Dobes and Sam Montembeault<\/a> forced Montreal\u2019s management to move.<\/p>\n

Dobes had allowed seven goals on his previous 32 shots before Sunday, leaving him with a 3.15 goals-against average and .887 save percentage after a red-hot start to the season.<\/p>\n

Montembeault, meanwhile, has struggled to a 5-6-1 record with a 3.65 GAA and .857 save percentage after becoming a solid No. 1 over the past two seasons and featuring on Canada\u2019s 4 Nations Face-Off roster last February.<\/p>\n

After the game, Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis<\/a> said he didn\u2019t yet know what Dobes\u2019 performance would mean for the goalie situation moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Dobes was very good tonight,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll talk about a few things as a staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadiens play at home Tuesday against the Philadelphia Flyers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SHUTTING DOWN MCDAVID<\/p>\n

While Dobes turned away shots from McDavid and the Oilers, Matheson in particular did his job limiting the superstar\u2019s time and space.<\/p>\n

Matched up against McDavid for much of his 26 minutes five seconds of ice time, the fast-skating Matheson shadowed Edmonton\u2019s captain \u2013 with or without the puck \u2013 and helped hold him to one power-play assist.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can always look at big challenges, whether you rise to the occasion or kind of fold. and so he\u2019s definitely – that whole team is a huge assignment,\u201d Matheson said. \u201cIt\u2019s fun to play in those games, it\u2019s motivating, but it\u2019s not just me, it takes everybody on the ice to stop those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 14, 2025.<\/p>\n

Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL \u2014 Jakub Dobes needed a strong performance after consecutive poor showings. Six minutes into Sunday\u2019s game, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-346740","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}