Jakub Dobes: “With Marco (Marciano), even when things are going badly, he supports me.”

Mathis Therrien
Jakub Dobes: “With Marco (Marciano), even when things are going badly, he supports me.”
Credit: Twitter screenshot

Jakub Dobes was excellent again last night.

He probably had his best game of the season, and it was in the Montreal Canadiens' most important game of the season so far.

He allowed only two goals on 38 shots against the Buffalo Sabres, which means he recorded 36 saves, his highest total of the season, tying his magnificent performance on October 22 against the Calgary Flames.

It took a big performance from Dobes, and he delivered, as he did twice this week against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday and the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.

However, there was something special about last night's game, as it was Dobes' first with new goaltending coach Marco Marciano.

After the game, in an interview with TVA Sports, Dobes was asked about Marciano's arrival, and he didn't mince words when he explained that with Marco, no matter how bad things get, he always feels that Marco has his back.

That's a big statement, given that it can be seen as an indirect jab at Éric Raymond, the former goaltending coach who was fired on Friday.

Dobes explained that he is always excited to see Marciano between periods and after games, regardless of his performance.

That says a lot about the trust and bond between the two men, which, as we recall, began in Laval over the past two seasons, when Dobes played 65 games with the Rocket before coming to Montreal.

The Habs' #75 seems to really like Marco Marciano, so it should be very interesting for the rest of the season, now that Dobes is officially the Habs' #1 goalie for the time being.

Martin St-Louis has confidence in his 24-year-old goaltender because, no matter what, he manages to win his games more often than not, as evidenced by his 18-5-3 record.

Dobes has won eight of his last nine games.

Now, what else do I take away from last night's crucial win for the habs at the Bell Centre in Buffalo?

1. KirbyDach proved his worth on the first line.

He didn't stand out much, but he did well overall and, most importantly, he was largely responsible for Cole Caufield's game-winning goal.

It was Dach who put excellent pressure on Sabres defenseman Michael Kesselring before stealing the puck and brilliantly passing it to Nick Suzuki.

It may seem like a trivial play, but it was worth its weight in gold in the final outcome of this crucial game.

2. TheHabs were excellent at the faceoffs.

Phillip Danault (78%), Jake Evans (81%), Oliver Kapanen (66%), Nick Suzuki (57%), and Joe Veleno (50%) all contributed to the habs' victory with their faceoff wins.

The Habs dominated the Sabres 70.2% to 29.8% in faceoffs, which is truly excellent and clearly had an impact on the final score.

3. MartinSt-Louis is rolling with five defensemen.

Apart from Mike Matheson's 27 minutes, the other habs defensemen all played around 20 minutes last night, except for Arber Xhekaj.

St-Louis clearly has less confidence in Xhekaj, especially in an important game like last night's, as the habs' #72 only spent 7:09 on the ice.

That's not much, and it shows how much the other five habs defensemen (Matheson, Dobson, Hutson, Guhle, and Carrier) are in a different league in terms of their coach's confidence in them.

4. TheHutson-Dobson pairing continues to excel.

Seriously, these two are extremely successful together and are a joy to watch.

They have great chemistry, and it showed again last night as they generated excellent scoring chances on almost every play, while still being responsible defensively.

In short, the Canadiens will be back in action tomorrow when they travel to Minnesota to face the Wild at 7:30 p.m.


Overtime

– I love it.

– Wow.

– That's excellent!

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