On the Recrutes Draftcast Podcast live episode, Grant McKegg, and Shayne Gaumond discussed whether rookie netminder Jakub Dobes should start on Tuesday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. This got me thinking about why Dobes should play his second consecutive game for the first time in his NHL career.
The main reason that Dobes deserves the start over current starting goaltender Samuel Montembeault is that he is currently the hot hand. While Dobes had his first game under a .900 save percentage in Sunday’s 5-4 overtime win over the Rangers, the Czech goaltender got better as the game went along after a brutal 1st period with bad bounces. Following that period, he remained poised and made big saves as the game progressed. The Habs should allow Dobes to continue his momentum and give him the start he deserves after starting his NHL career with five straight victories for the Habs. He is now tied for 3rd most victories to start an NHL career with Mike Condon and only behind Ken Dryden (7) and Wayne Thomas (6). The two guys ahead of him began their careers backstopping teams that were well on their way to becoming a late 1970s dynasty, making Dobes’ start even more impressive when you consider that 3 (Panthers, Avalanche, and Capitals) of his first five victories were against recent Stanley Cup winners. That said, if he manages to beat backstop the Habs to a win over the Lightning on Tuesday, that will add them to his list of beating defending champs, meaning he’d have beaten 4 of the last 5 Cup winners. This fact alone should consider him for starting against a recent Stanley Cup champion.
Meanwhile, Montembeault is coming off a rough 7-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he allowed four goals in the 3rd period alone as the Habs collapsed in front of their fans. Now, this isn’t all Monty’s fault. Still, there were a few goals he would like to have back, including a Bobby McMann shot off the rush that led to the Leafs starting their comeback midway through the 2nd period after the Habs were leading 3-0 after the opening frame.
We can easily say that the veteran Montembeault will be hungry to redeem himself and perform well. While it is true, I am a big proponent of believing that you should continue to ride the hot goalie as long as he leads you to victory. Plus, beating the Lightning could only solidify the 23-year-old as a legitimate threat throughout the NHL. The Canadiens have been missing this component to their team ever since Carey Price went on LTIR after the 2021 Stanley Cup Final run, and only three and a half years later, the Habs may have found his true successor in Dobes. Only time will tell, but if things continue this way, he may steal more starts from Montembeault than expected.
Dobes has a .940 save percentage and a 1.55 GAA through five games. It may be a small sample size, but it should be enough to prove that he should be the guy against the Lightning on Tuesday night. Let the hot hand continue his reign of dominance. Meanwhile, despite Montembeault’s strong season, he currently only ranks 32nd in save percentage among all goalies who have played at least 15 games this regular season. The point here isn’t that Montembeault has been bad but that he can lack consistency and sometimes get in his head after a bad goal. However, so far, Dobes has managed to bounce back great if he allows a bad or flukey goal. Having Dobes means Montembeault doesn’t need to face as much pressure as he did before the arrival of the young netminder.
If you still aren’t convinced why Dobes should start over Montembault on Tuesday, a good point that McKegg said on his podcast is that Dobes will get a nice amount of rest during the 4 Nations Tournament. At the same time, Montembault will be right in the thick of the short tournament and could see a good amount of playing time; as of the three Canadian goaltenders, there is no clear starter. The fact that the tournament is half in Montreal could also factor in how much Montembeault plays for Canada. Therefore, playing Dobe, who is at the top of his game, would suit all parties, as neither goaltender will get overworked in the long run.
Another advantage of playing Dobes over Montembeault is that the Lightning don’t have the book on how Dobes plays. Earlier last week just before the Habs played the Dallas Stars on Thursday, Pierre McGuire said on The Eye Test Podcast that the Canadiens should play Dobes since the Stars don’t have a book on how he plays. The truth is this is why often unknown goalies can shine on random nights as they tend to throw opposing teams’ game plans off and Dobes has done a great job against the league’s best teams. With that said, Dobes would be the best option to start tomorrow night.
Do you agree with the reasoning behind playing Dobes against the Lightning on Tuesday, or would you rather play Montembeault so he can bounce back after Saturday’s rough performance?
