Whichever way you look at it, Jakub Dobes has now taken over as the Montreal Canadiens’ number one goaltender. Hockey is a results business, and the Czech netminder does nothing but deliver results. With Saturday night’s win, the 24-year-old now has an 18-5-3 record. To put it bluntly, he has won twice as many games as Samuel Montembeault, who has a 9-5-3 record.
Granted, Dobes’ goals-against average (2.92) could be better and so could his save percentage (.894), but behind a Canadiens’ team that is now a well-oiled scoring machine (189 goals for, third-highest total in the league), they are enough.
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With the week the young netminder has had, the net must be his to lose. He now has an 8-0-1 record in his last nine games, and considering how tight the standings are, the Canadiens need results. They need points, and Dobes is the man who gives them the best chance of getting them.
Montembeault has had more than enough chances to reclaim his spot, and he’s failed to do so. The Canadiens cannot afford to gamble on him anymore. Unless there’s a back-to-back or Dobes has an awful game, there’s no reason for the Habs to go back to Montembeault. Kent Hughes said in his mid-season review that the goaltender who plays the best will play the most, and by that logic, the net has to be Dobes’.
Granted, in an ideal world, an NHL team has two goalies who can perform, but you need to play with the hand you were dealt. As for needing a veteran in net in the playoffs, well, Montembeault may be 29, but he’s only ever played three playoff games, last season when the Canadiens were eliminated in five games by the Washington Capitals. He was injured in the third match, which means that Dobes, who was his backup, also has three games of playoff experience, and he’s the one who picked up the sole win (even though Montembeault started the game).
Jakub Dobeš vychytal už šestou výhru v řadě! ✌️
— NHL Česko (@NHLcz) February 1, 2026
Český brankář zastavil 38 střel Buffala a dovedl @CanadiensMTL k vítězství 4:2. 🛑 pic.twitter.com/O6JYLnZWEp
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