Hockey

Jakub Dobes and the Blue Jays on everyone’s lips around the Canadiens
Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Jakub Dobes and the Blue Jays on everyone’s lips around the Canadiens
Credit: Getty Images

Last night, the Canadiens won against the Buffalo Sabres. Martin St-Louis' men found a way to score four times to win 4-2, making it 3-1 at home in the last four games. Clearly, Jakub Dobes had a hand in all this .He has two of the Habs' three wins at home (plus one on the road) and yesterday, he did it again.

(Credit: ESPN)

Yesterday, he made some important saves that kept the Canadiens in the game. And let's just say that the club's start to the season wouldn't be so promising if he didn't have an efficiency rate of .939, one of the best in the NHL..939, for a goalie with at least two games behind the tie this season, puts him second in the NHL.

(Credit: NHL.com)

All over Montreal, Dobes is the talk of the town when it comes to hockey. Many people want to see him steal more games from Samuel Montembeault, for example, and the #1 goaltender debate will always exist in Montreal. And by shouting “Doby, Doby” in the stands, Habs fans have made it clear that they're ready to see more of Dobes. If Dobes is hungry, let's give him a few more games and get closer to a 50/50. And since the Habs no longer have Cayden Primeau, they can afford to be confident in their auxiliary. And I'll say it again: in the long run, this can only help Monty

But it's still not the most predominant topic in the Canadiens' dressing room yesterday. The topic of choice was the Blue Jays' victory. The guys rejoiced in particular when George Springer hit his huge three-run home run to give the Blue Jays a 4-3 lead in Game #7 of the championship series.

In Montreal as elsewhere in the country (Winnipeg, notably), ball fans in the locker room didn't hesitate to follow what was happening in Toronto in an exciting Game #7. Obviously, they didn't follow the whole game. But they saw the result: the Blue Jays will cross swords with the Dodgers in the World Series, starting Friday. And that made a lot of guys happy. Lane Hutson, an American, said that Brendan Gallagher had forced him to become a Blue Jays fan.

I know that taking on Toronto isn't for everyone in Montreal. But if the guys can draw inspiration from the success of a Canadian team to motivate themselves, that would be a good start,wouldn't it?content-ads]But that's not all we should remember about yesterday's game, which was still exciting for the people who watched it. Whatdo I remember? 1. Mike Matheson and Noah Dobson were the only defensemen to play more than 20 minutes yesterday. Even Lane Hutson (19:59) played less than 20 minutes, which is rare,but the difference between Dobson and Matheson is insane. We're talking 20:46 for Dobson… and 26:30 for Matheson. Matheson was supposed to play less at the start of the season, but Kaiden Guhle's injury changed all that. I'm not sure if that's good in the long term, but it shows how important he is in town, anyway.Note that Arber Xhekaj played 13 minutes and Jayden Struble is at 19 minutes. Struble played a hefty2. We'll come back to the playing time of some of the forwards later this morning, but you should know that Nick Suzuki played quite a bit again. He's at 21:37, three minutes more than Jake Evans at 18:16. The Habs are counting on him to protect leads and get points, as he's down to 10 this season. What a fine hockey player the captain is becoming

3. Juraj Slafkovsky was briefly replaced by Ivan Demidov on the first line late in the second. Did this whip Slaf, who scored in the third?Nice play by Noah Dobson on the sequence, by the way.

This is how Slaf will be able to make an impact in the NHL: by going and parking himself in front of the net. He just has to remember that he's a big guy and that he can make a difference. 4. If you're looking for a second way to make a good first impression, go and ask Oliver Kapanen for advice. The guy has four goals this year and is playing well with Ivan Demidov. And the day Alex Newhook learns to hold his stick on the ice when Demidov passes to him, the Russian will have even more points on the clock. content-ads]

If you notice, it's another goal scored when the disc carrier found himself directly in front of the net. It's almost as if it's a tried-and-tested formula. 5. I agree with Gilbert: Zachary Bolduc and his line-mates need to give more. They don't play much and I think it's a shame to see the Habs deprive themselves of Bolduc's shot, that said. I'd like to see them with better players – with all due respect to Veleno and Beck, who are good hockey players.

'prolongation'

At 11am this morning, the guys will hop on the ice in Brossard for practice. After that, it's off to Alberta for tomorrow's showdown with the Flames, and we'll be keeping a close eye on the recall situation. After all, the Habs have only 18 healthy skaters (at last count, anyway), and they're going to need reinforcements on the road.

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