Penalties: Cole Caufield Blames Jakub Dobes and Arber Xhekaj

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Penalties: Cole Caufield Blames Jakub Dobes and Arber Xhekaj
Credit: Arianne Bergeron/NHLI via Getty Images

I mentioned it briefly this morning, but penalties are among the reasons behind the Canadiens' loss.

It's not the only reason (Jake Evans' and Lane Hutson's mistakes on the opponent's first two goals are also worth noting), but it's part of the explanation.

Alexandre Texier's penalty, for example, didn't help.

But the two plays that immediately come to mind were completely unnecessary and led directly to the Sharks' last two goalsOn the sidelines of the Carey Price Bowl.

Arber Xhekaj wasn't penalized more severely than Michael Kesselring because of his reputation—he was penalized because he dropped the gloves on the very next play.

As for Jakub Dobes, everyone can clearly see how unnecessary his penalty in overtime was. You don't need a PhD in hockey to know that.

Those two penalties opened the door for the Sharks. And no, it's not the referees' fault.

Naturally, the two plays by Xhekaj and Dobes have been analyzed, since we know they played a small part in the 4-3 overtime loss at home.

Even within the team, that's not acceptable—even though both players were having a good game before their respective penalties.

After the game, Cole Caufield didn't hold back in criticizing his two teammates. He first pointed out that the team shot itself in the foot because the penalties were unnecessary. They opened the door for a Sharks comeback.

As Dave Lévesque (TVA Sports) reports, #13 also alluded to a lack of maturity.

Caufield mentioned that, even though this kind of sequence happens in the heat of the moment, Xhekaj didn't need to do that. He could clearly see that no one on the other side wanted to fight.

As for Dobes, he had this to say.

“Jakub is a competitor, but it wasn't necessary at that point in the game. You can't give the referees a reason to raise their arms.” – Cole Caufield

It's great to see Caufield (who's also sick of watching the Habs squander leads) taking on more leadership responsibilities. And it has to be said that he's right about this: the guys didn't properly assess the importance of the moment.

Mistakes like that simply can't happen anymore. This isn't 2023 anymore, when the team was in the midst of a rebuild.


In a Nutshell

– Must-read.

– Calling all basketball fans.

– Really?

– Stay tuned.

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