A costly penalty by Jakub Dobes dooms the CH against the Sharks

Félix Forget
A costly penalty by Jakub Dobes dooms the CH against the Sharks
Credit: DansLesCoulisses.com

Tonight, the Canadiens took the ice at the Bell Centre. They hosted the San Jose Sharks.

For the Habs, Jakub Dobes was back in net. It was a great opportunity for him to get his season back on track.

Here is the team's full lineup, in which Adam Engström also replaced David Reinbacher:

For the Sharks, Alex Nedeljkovic was the starting goaltender.

Here's what it looked like for Macklin Celebrini and his team:

The first goal came midway through the first period, when Jake Evans committed a nasty turnover in his own zone.

That allowed none other than Celebrini to find himself alone in the slot… and what was bound to happen happened.

The Habs were, however, able to tie the game before the end of the period. After watching the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft score for the Sharks, Juraj Slafkovský (drafted first overall two years earlier) was clearly inspired.

He set up his captain, Nick Suzuki, who scored a beautiful goal.

After 20 minutes, the score was 1-1.

In the second period, Slaf kept up the momentum. After setting up Suzuki, the Slovakian was the one to score this time.

And he did it by completely making a fool of Darnell Nurse to score the best goal of his career.

And after seeing Suzuki and Slafkovský score, the only member of the first line left without a goal tonight was Cole Caufield.

The young sniper made up for it a few minutes later.

After 40 minutes, the Habs held a 3-1 lead.

So the question was whether the Canadiens would be able to protect a lead—something they've struggled to do since the start of the season. But of course, it wasn't quite that simple.

A strong effort by the Sharks allowed them to steal the puck from Lane Hutson, setting up Michael Misa for his first goal of the season…

And a few minutes later, Tyler Toffoli (who else?) scored the tying goal.

So, once again, the Habs blew a two-goal lead.

Both teams had their chances afterward, but the third period ended without a decisive goal.

So, once again, the game went into overtime.

Jakub Dobes was called for interference, giving the Sharks a power play.

And Macklin Celebrini capitalized on the opportunity to secure the win for his team.

Final score: 4-3 San Jose (OT)

The Canadiens will be back in action Friday night when they travel to Chicago to face the Blackhawks.


Overtime

– The Habs, once again, blew a lead in the third period. This is a real problem for the team, and they'll have to learn to close out games. It costs points in the standings that the Habs can't afford to lose.

– Adam Engström had a good game tonight. The defenseman, who has often seemed too timid on the ice, created opportunities and made several nice plays. That's what management must love to see, whether it's to include him in their future plans or to increase his trade value.

– Aside from his (very) bad penalty, Jakub Dobes bounced back pretty well tonight after a rough start to the season. He seemed a little more confident in front of the net, and that helped him make some big saves. The Montreal crowd even showed him some love after one of his saves.

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