Three Takeaways As Dobes Stole The Game
Jakub Dobes was the difference maker tonight. Photo credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images The Montreal Canadiens had a date with the Nashville Predators on Sunday night and hoped to keep their winning streak going. Josh Anderson was back in the lineup after his wife delivered the couple’s first child on Saturday. However, David Savard and Emil Heineman were out, dealing with minor ailments, and their status will be reevaluated daily. This meant that Oliver Kapanen stayed in the lineup, and Arber Xhekaj was back after sitting out the last four games.
A Couple Of Career Seasons
After the Canadiens played a subpar first frame, as is too often the case this season, they came out strong in the middle frame. Cole Caufield scored on Montreal’s fifth shot of the game, the snipper’s 36th goal of the season and his 66th point.
Last season, the right winger collected 65 points in 82 games, making this season his most productive in both goals and points. He’s seven assists short of his career-high of 37, but no one can hold that against him. He’s a goal scorer at heart, and the Canadiens have got themselves a brand-new assist-dishing machine this season.
On Caufield’s goal, captain Nick Suzuki got his 57th assist of the season, his 84th point, which ties Alex Kovalev’s best season in Montreal in 2007-2008. He can now set his sights on Bobby Smith’s 86 points in 1985-86, Keith Acton and Brian Bellows’s 88 points in 1981-82 and 1992-93.
A Great Outing For Dobes
Although Sunday night’s game was the second in as many nights, seeing Martin St-Louis give Jakub Dobes the nod was almost surprising. After a fantastic start to his NHL career, the young netminder had struggled in his last eight outings.
After Nashville scored the first goal less than five minutes in, the young netminder looked frazzled, and the sky might have fallen on his head had the Predators’ second goal counted. The Canadiens’ coaching staff decided to challenge for goalie interference, and they were successful. From then on, the youngster looked more solid by the minute.
He made a big save on Michael McCarron in the middle frame, which gave him the boost he needed. In the end, he faced 37 shots and finished the game with a .973 save percentage. This is a huge win for the young man and for the team’s confidence in its backup. Without Dobes’s performance, the Habs would have lost that game; they only tested Juuse Saros 17 times.
Laine From Lane
Patrik Laine may not be a complete player, but he is the kind of player contenders have. He is the money shot guy, the one goaltenders know will shoot, but still can’t stop him, and he is the perfect complement to Lane Hutson.
On Sunday night, Laine scored his 20th goal of the season in just 47 games: 0.43 goals per game. Caufield is at 0.47 goals per game. Whichever way you look at it, the Canadiens need Laine.
Yes, he can occasionally cause coaches headaches, but his goal-scoring talent is needed. Montreal needs that kind of player in the lineup; scoring goals is how you win games.
With an assist on the Laine game-winning goal, Hutson got his 64th point of the season, tying Chris Chelios’ record for the most points by a rookie defenseman in Montreal, and something tells me he’s not done, far from it. It's also worth mentioning that Andrei Markov never got more than 64 points in a season...
Nashville was the better team on Sunday night, but Dobes was the better goaltender, and Montreal stole two precious points, allowing the Habs to get a six-point lead in the second wild-card spot. Nothing is set in stone with five games left to play, but this is a substantial lead, which means the Sainte-Flanelle has its destiny in its own hands.
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