Jakub Dobes wins more often than Carey Price used to

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Jakub Dobes wins more often than Carey Price used to
Credit: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

In a playoff race, it's not always how you win that matters. It does, Martin St-Louis would say, but you get my point: you just have to win, no matter how.

And Jakub Dobes gets that. In his team's 2-1 win yesterday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Dobes once again found a way to win a hockey game.

He has six wins in nine games since the Olympics.

Since the start of 2026, he has a record of 12-2-2. That's 26 points out of a possible 32 when he's in net for the Habs this year.

It's no wonder the crowd showed him some love.

(Credit: ESPN)

He's gaining more and more confidence and winning games. He's the team's #1 goaltender and will be in net for the playoffs, if the Habs manage to qualify in the coming weeks.

And right now, things are looking good.

(Credit: NHL.com)

In fact, in 36 games this season, the Canadiens' rookie goalie has won 24 times. He has only eight regular-season losses, which is an excellent ratio for a team aiming for the playoffs.

And in fact, that's better than Carey Price did during his rookie season.

I know, I know: Dobes played 16 games last year and spent a year and a half in Laval, whereas Price's rookie season was his first in the pros. But still: Price had 24 wins in 41 games.

This year's crop is better than the 2007-2008 one, but it's still worth noting.

Thanks to him, the Canadiens found a way to win a close game that was crucial for the standings. And this, even though the guys got off to a really rough start… yet again.

That's something they'll need to fix.

The other big thing I'm noting is that the Canadiens won a close game in which the first line wasn't able to put any points on the board.

Cole Caufield had his chances, but to no avail.

In fact, seeing Jayden Struble score his first goal of the season and Zachary Bolduc find the back of the net for the first time since December 23 did the team a world of good.

Sometimes a team needs to see guys step up with secondary offensive production to win. It can't always fall on the captain's shoulders.

Seeing Bolduc score felt good. He works hard and no one doubts his talent, but he wasn't acquired just to play checkers either, you know.

Will that goal give him a boost? We'll see.


Overtime

There won't be any practice on the schedule today. In fact, it's a travel day for the Canadiens, who are heading to Nashville.

Will a goaltender (Jakub Dobes or Jacob Fowler) head straight to Carolina instead to avoid traveling overnight from Saturday to Sunday? Who knows. But don't count on the coach—or on Dobes—to say so.

We'll also see if the Canadiens feel the need to bring a forward like Samuel Blais on the road for the start of this five-game road trip. Alexandre Texier's injury changes the game…

Stay tuned.

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