Jakub Dobes Leads Rookies With 29 Wins in Canadiens Run
Jakub Dobes has held his own for the Montreal Canadiens through the first four games of their first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The 24-year-old has matched, and at times exceeded, Andrei Vasilevskiy while Montreal stayed in a razor-tight matchup that is now 3-2 after Game 4.
Dobes and Vasilevskiy
Dobeš has done it with smart reads, excellent depth control and fearless aggression. He charges out of his crease to smother shots before they reach the blue paint, a style that has carried over from his years at Ohio State into the Stanley Cup playoffs.
That approach showed up early in the series. Less than five minutes into Game 1, he made a save on Tampa Bay’s Erik Cernak. In Game 3, he stopped a dangerous shot by Gage Goncalves after Corey Perry sent a hard lateral pass along the ice from one faceoff dot to the other.
Ohio State to Montreal
Dobeš was a freshman goalie at Ohio State in 2021 and had a two-year career there before moving into the NHL. Dustin Carlson, who coached Ohio State’s goalies from 2017 to 2024, said, “When he got to us, his skating was already elite” and added, “Every movement was crisp, hard and agile.”
Those traits helped him become a two-time semifinalist for the Mike Richter Award and the Big Ten goaltender of the year in 2022. Carlson also said of Dobeš’s crease play, “I see it and I’m like, ‘Oh, there’s my guy,’” followed by, “That’s what he does.”
Montreal’s playoff edge
The regular season gave the same picture. Dobeš led all rookies with 29 wins, then took over the starting job for Montreal on Jan. 27. From that date on, he led the NHL with 17.99 goals saved above expected and finished with 14 wins, which ranked third in the league behind Vasilevskiy and Jake Oettinger.
After Game 3 at Bell Centre, Dobeš said, “I’m just getting used to how amazing of fans we have,” and added, “You can’t prepare for what they do here, it’s unbelievable.” He finished with, “But this is what we work for.”
Montreal’s hope in this series now rests on whether his play keeps matching Tampa Bay’s top-end goaltending. A 3-2 loss in Game 4 left the Canadiens still leaning on a rookie who has already given them the kind of netminding that can keep a first-round series alive.
