Canadiens Dobes Stops 28 Shots in 6-2 Game 3 Win
canadiens dobes turned 28 of 30 shots aside on Sunday night, helped Montreal beat Buffalo 6-2 in Game 3, and heard the Bell Centre rise for him near the end. The 24-year-old said the ovation was nice, but he did not build much around it after the Canadiens took a 2-1 lead in the Atlantic Division Final.
Dobes Takes the Win
“I’m not a hero, I’m just me,” Dobes said after the game. He added, “I’m just a goofy goalie that tries to stop pucks.”
That was the tone after a night that pushed his postseason record to 6-4. Dobes also left the rink with a 2.13 goals-against average and a.918 save percentage, numbers that matched the control Montreal needed in a series that had already moved through seven games in the first round against Tampa Bay.
Bell Centre Response
The crowd’s reaction came near the end of Game 3, when fans at Bell Centre gave Dobes a standing ovation. He answered it with the same line he used to strip away the spotlight: “I will go home, eat, watch Game of Thrones and go to bed.”
He followed that with the blunt line that framed the night from his side: “When it’s time to do my job, I’ll do anything to win.” The performance fit the pattern Montreal has leaned on since the regular season, when he led all first-year goaltenders with 29 wins and helped the Canadiens finish third in the Atlantic Division.
Montreal’s Playoff Push
Dobes’s run has carried into the postseason, where he already helped Montreal eliminate the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games. He also outplayed Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy in that series, and Sunday’s win extended the same formula: steady goaltending, a low-cost night in net, and a score that kept Buffalo chasing from behind.
The Canadiens now carry a 2-1 lead into Game 4 against Buffalo on Tuesday night, with puck drop set for a little after 7 p.m. ET. Dobes has given Montreal a margin it did not have before the series turned back to him, and he did it while making the postgame noise sound smaller than the result.
