Goal disallowed: Lindy Ruff blames Jakub Dobes

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Goal disallowed: Lindy Ruff blames Jakub Dobes
Credit: X

Last night, there was a close game at the Bell Centre.

The Sabres saw Jakub Dobes make a save to prevent the visitors from going up 2-0. But a replay, which aired several minutes after the play, showed that the puck had crossed the line.

Martin St-Louis, however, challenged the call on the grounds of goaltender interference (because it would have been too logical to review that at the same time, I suppose), and the goal was disallowed.

In the end, it didn't change much for the Sabres, who won.

But in reality, it's clear why the game didn't sit well with Lindy Ruff, who wasn't exactly thrilled despite his team's victory.

His team's lack of experience in drawing penalties, their lack of discipline, and the referees' calls are at the heart of Ruff's dissatisfaction. But Jakub Dobes' performance must also be added to the list.

The veteran coach believes the goaltender is constantly swinging his stick.

The Sabres coach criticized the fact that the referees were sometimes swayed by the fact that Kaiden Guhle, in particular, was good at drawing penalties.

And as Nicolas Cloutier (TVA Sports) points out, the Habs were actually the ones on the receiving end of that against the Lightning.

However, that's not all I take away from yesterday's game, which wasn't lost solely because Tage Thompson scored the luckiest goal of the playoffs.

Here are a few notes regarding the game.

1. The Canadiens' goalie drew attention because of the disallowed goal or the deflected puck. That said, over the course of the game as a whole, it's worth noting that Jakub Dobes was solid and kept his team in the game.

That save is proof of it. When we say a goalie can keep his team in the game…

2. Arber Xhekaj played for only 3:46 and didn't see any ice time after the midway point of the game. Not playing on special teams and being out of the game likely worked against him.

But the question remains: will he play tomorrow?

Among those who saw significant ice time: Lane Hutson played for 28 minutes. Noah Dobson (who is getting his minutes back) and Nick Suzuki played for 24 minutes.

Juraj Slafkovsky? 23 minutes. Yes, it seems the Sabres were undisciplined…

3. Despite the loss, there were moments when the Habs dominated. So all is not lost (quite the contrary), and there's a way to pull through tomorrow on the road.

The Habs are a team that bounces back, anyway.

4. Yesterday, it was Guy Carbonneau who carried the torch. And you could feel, more than ever, that there was a great atmosphere at the Bell Centre throughout the game.

The playoffs in Montreal are something else.

5. Enough with the broken stick festival. It's true that seeing broken sticks on the ice all the time must be really annoying for the players.

But they can't complain publicly. After all, they don't want to start paying for their own sticks…


overtime

The Sabres thus regain home-ice advantage in what essentially becomes a best-of-three series starting tomorrow. It's going to be a great show.

The Habs will host a game on Saturday night (8 p.m.), and the atmosphere will be electric at the Temple.

But before thinking about Game 6, the Canadiens must prepare for tomorrow. And to do so, there will be no practice on the schedule today, as it's a travel day.

We'll see tomorrow if any clues emerge in Buffalo as the team prepares for Thursday's game.

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