Game 13 – Canadiens vs. Stars: Dobes’ Redemption

Martin St-Louis didn’t stick to his usual policy of not revealing his goaltender ahead of time; on Wednesday, he said Jakub Dobes would be in the Montreal Canadiens’ net Thursday against the Dallas Stars. The Czech netminder’s last outing against the San Jose Sharks wasn't bad, but he spoiled it by taking a costly overtime penalty and then refusing to call it a mistake when the media asked him to comment. Since then, Jacob Fowler has been in net, and he's been nearly perfect. Tonight, Dobes needs to show everyone that he’s still the netminder who took the Habs to the Eastern Conference Final and that he won’t go down without a fight.

At practice, the coach also tweaked his lineup: Alex Newhook found himself on the first line between Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky, while Oliver Kapanen centred Owen Beck (a placeholder for Chris Kreider, who had a treatment day) and Josh Anderson. The first power-play unit now includes Zachary Bolduc and Kirby Dach instead of Kapanen and Noah Dobson. The second was formed by Newhook, Kapanen, Alexandre Texier, Phillip Danault and Dobson. One of Kapanen or Danault was likely the placeholder for Kreider.

Canadiens Must Fix Their Power Play
Canadiens: Larkin’s Big Dilemma
Canadiens' Fowler Blanks The Blues

Dobes has faced the Stars twice in his career and has a 1-1-0 record with a 3.61 goals-against average and a .870 SV. He was on duty last season when Dallas obliterated Montreal 7-0; he gave up five goals on just 13 shots, so that should be ample motivation for the masked man. As for Fowler, he has never faced the Lone Star State outfit.

Meanwhile, the Stars still haven't confirmed their starting goalie, but Jake Oettinger usually gets the lion’s share of the work. He’s 5-2-1 against the Habs with a 2.66 GAA and a .900 SV. As for backup Casey DeSmith, he’s 4-2-2 with a 2.07 GAA and a .930 SV. However, the backup was on duty when Dallas lost 5-1 to the New Jersey Devils earlier this week, so Oettinger will likely be between the posts.

Up front, Chris Kreider, who St-Louis said will be available despite some treatment yesterday, is the Habs' most productive forward against the Stars, with 16 points in 19 games. The big winger hasn’t scored in nine games, and it would do him well to get back on the scoresheet. Phillip Danault is in second place with 15 points in 25 games, while Alexandre Carrier and Newhook both have six points. The former in 20 games and the latter in 11.

On the other side, Tyler Seguin has always liked taking on the Habs, and he has 32 points in 36 games to show for it. Jaimie Benn comes in second with 21 points in 24 games. Like the Habs, they have two players in third: newly signed David Perron (20 points in 38 games) and Tyler Myers (20 points in 57 games).

Montreal won the last meeting, a 4-3 overtime win thanks to a Lane Hutson goal with Samuel Montembeault in net last January, but the Stars have won six of the last 10 duels. The game is set for 8:00 PM, and you can catch it on RDS in French or on both Amazon Prime and TSN 2 in English. Beau Halkidis, who has recently worked his 200th NHL game, and Francois St. Laurent will be the referees, while Julien Fournier and Shawn Oliver will be the linesmen.

Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.

Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens.

Join the discussion by signing up to the Canadiens' roundtable on The Hockey News.