Dobson Goes Seven Straight Games Without A Point
Noah dobson went scoreless in three games this week, extending his pointless streak to seven straight games. Montreal got another quiet stretch from a defenseman who has one point in 10 playoff games this year, and his recent output has fallen well short of the regular season he put together.
Dobson’s Three-Game Slide
He finished the week with no points, only two shots on net and a minus-three. The line on Saturday night in Game 2 against Carolina was worse: minus-two, and on Nikolaj Ehlers' overtime-winner he was not quick enough to cut off the shooting lane and reached with his stick unsuccessfully.
That stretch matters because Dobson returned to the lineup in Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning after an upper-body injury kept him out to start the playoffs. Since then, the offense has not followed. He has 11 career playoff points in 41 games, but this postseason has produced only one point so far.
Montreal’s Need From Dobson
Dobson’s regular season showed a much different player. He ranked second in the NHL in blocked shots and posted 35 assists and 47 points in 80 regular-season games, so Montreal does not need him to carry the scoring load. It does need more than this recent run of empty box scores and a minus-three week from a blueliner expected to help move the puck and limit damage at the other end.
He still added five blocked shots this past week, which gives Montreal some of the defensive work it expected from him. The problem is that the puck production has not matched it, and that has left the Canadiens leaning harder on other sources for offense while their defenseman searches for his first meaningful scoring stretch of the postseason.
Danault And Hertl Set The Pace
Elsewhere in the playoff race, Phil Danault posted two goals and a league-leading five points in three games this past week, and he now has eight assists and 10 points in 16 playoff games. Tomas Hertl also stayed busy, scoring the game-winning goal in Game 3 on Sunday and finishing the week with three points in three games.
Hertl has six assists and nine points in 15 playoff games, already topping the totals from his last two postseasons combined, when he had two assists and five points in 11 playoff games last year and one point in seven postseason games the year before. The Vegas Golden Knights are up 3-0 on the Avalanche in the Western Conference final, while Montreal keeps waiting for Dobson’s offense to catch up to the rest of his game.
