Is Canadiens' Dobes the NHL playoffs breakout star?

0:00 With Carlo Colaiacovo, Carlo,

0:01 the Habs ended the season with Sam Montembeault as their number one.

0:04 Super prospect Cayden Primeau was waiting in the wings.

0:07 Now, both are watching Jakub Dobeš,

0:10 the NHL's breakout star of these playoffs between the pipes.

0:13 Did you see this coming, my friend?

0:17 You know, I did not see the Montreal Canadiens going

0:21 with two rookie goaltenders and expecting this type of success,

0:24 but I did see this type of performance

0:27 from Jakub Dobeš cuz I've seen it all season.

0:30 More importantly, end of January, when the Montreal Canadiens decided to replace

0:35 their goalie coach and add Marco Marciano

0:37 as the new guy in, that's when everything started to click for Jakub Dobeš.

0:41 Since he took over, this is regular season record,

0:44 not playoffs included, 12-3-1.

0:47 So, clearly, whatever change they made has proved to be, you know,

0:53 a huge difference in the success that we're seeing from Jakub Dobeš.

0:56 And if you go back to the early season, Dobeš was really hard on himself,

1:00 was really emotional after losses,

1:02 and maybe that's part of the maturity that you see in his game,

1:06 and even just with his presence,

1:07 that's allowed him to feel and look a lot more calm and confident in the net.

1:12 And I was very critical of the deadline approach that the Montreal

1:15 Canadiens took without addressing their goaltending

1:18 need and bringing in a veteran guy, but clearly they knew what they're doing.

1:21 Dobeš Dobeš has been a guy Let's look at the first round of series.

1:24 He out battled Andrei Vasilevskiy and did not not look nervous at all.

1:29 He's a guy that battles, and he's a guy that carries a big swagger in his game.

1:35 Loves to compete, loves to chirp at guys, loves to embrace the stage,

1:40 and it's been amazing to watch him carry

1:42 the Montreal Canadiens to this point right now.

1:44 My friend, he's just 24 years old,

1:46 just a fifth-round pick of the Habs 6 years ago.

1:49 Six years toiling through the NAHL, the USHL, NCAA,

1:53 and AHL before joining the big club, and Habs.

1:56 Just an incredible hot streak right now, Carlo,

1:59 or has Dobish now become a truly bonafide number one in the NHL?

2:06 Gino, he's the real deal.

2:08 I mean, I don't care about his age.

2:10 At the end of the day, when you put a guy in net,

2:12 you're trusting him to play big and and play big on the big stage,

2:15 and that's exactly what he's done so far in this playoffs.

2:17 I talked about him outperforming Vasilevskiy.

2:20 You could make a case right now that of the teams remaining still playing,

2:25 Jake Dobish has been the best goaltender.

2:27 I know Freddy Anderson has been great in Carolina.

2:29 They've won eight in a row,

2:30 but Carolina has that team in front of him that helps insulate him in net.

2:35 Montreal doesn't have that, and Dobish is a rookie goaltender,

2:38 and he's definitely living up to the height.

2:40 He loves playing on the big stage.

2:42 You see the Montreal fans showing him the love.

2:45 And at the end of the day, all you expect from your goaltender is to give

2:47 yourself give your team a chance to win.

2:49 He's done that and more, and he's been a rising superstar right now in the net

2:53 at just only 24 years old, like you mentioned.

2:57 But, he's not the only Hab hitting new heights in this playoff run.

3:00 Uh they're getting big-time contributions from players like Zach

3:03 Bogosian and Alex Newhook has been great, among others.

3:07 How is Marty St.

3:08 Louis maximizing the return on so many different players on this roster?

3:13 You know what?

3:13 Marty St.

3:14 Louis has done a tremendous job ever since taking over as head coach,

3:18 first-time head coach in the organization,

3:21 and leading the Montreal Canadiens to this point

3:23 because he truly understands his players.

3:26 He does a great job building these guys up.

3:28 He doesn't give up on players.

3:30 There's so many times throughout the season where

3:32 he could have easily given up on guys, through a scoring slump,

3:36 through a a playing slump, you know, through a streak of bad play,

3:40 and he just decides to put the push the right buttons.

3:42 Either he finds a new combination for them,

3:45 or he has a little pep talk with them just to build up their confidence.

3:48 We We've seen it just recently with uh Cole Caufield,

3:51 who everybody was all over not scoring enough.

3:53 He scores a big goal in the last game to help Montreal build get a big win.

3:58 But for Marty St.

3:59 Louis, he deserves a ton of credit for building up guys like Bolduc,

4:02 Newhook, Kirby Dach, even Alex Texier who have been big key contributors

4:07 to the Montreal Canadiens success so far in the playoffs.

4:09 You wonder where the Montreal Canadiens would be

4:11 right now if they haven't been able to get

4:13 those depth scoring goals for those players because at five

4:16 on five their top line hasn't been generating much.

4:19 So Marty St.

4:19 Louis deserves a ton of credit.

4:21 Not only winning the battle against Jon Cooper

4:23 one of the best coach in the game, but allowing his team to believe that they're

4:27 at this point and they can win right now with the guys that they have

4:30 and they're playing some great hockey because of him.

4:33 Okay my friend, the Habs are in a great spot right

4:34 now up 2-1 with game four on back on home ice.

4:37 What do you want to see them do

4:39 to take advantage and grab something they haven't

4:41 had in these playoffs at all so far and that's a two game lead in the series.

4:46 Well Gino, they almost had that in in this the first round

4:49 of the series in game four they were up two nothing late

4:51 in the second period at home against Tampa and then Slafkovsky gets

4:55 hit in the open ice and that completely changed the series for Tampa.

4:58 They find a way to come back into that game and they find

5:01 a way to make it a series and take it to game seven.

5:03 So if you're Montreal,

5:04 the way you take a stranglehold on this series is control your emotions.

5:08 Man, that Bell Centre crowd did the hair on people's arms must just be you know,

5:12 rising to an a crazy level right now and the adrenaline must be

5:16 just flowing through the roof especially if you're the players on this team.

5:19 So what you learn throughout each game

5:21 and each playoff series is just how to handle

5:23 your emotions better and I think for Montreal

5:25 that was a great learning experience for them.

5:27 But you look at this series against Buffalo.

5:30 They've they've outscored Buffalo 11 to three in the last

5:32 two games and mostly because they've matched Buffalo's speed game,

5:36 they've matched Buffalo's physical game,

5:38 but most importantly they've executed at a high level and I think

5:43 the team that has executed the best so far through three games,

5:46 Buffalo did it in game one.

5:48 Montreal's taking over in game two and game three.

5:51 Montreal has to focus on details and execution.

5:54 And the big goal would be, you know,

5:56 huge if they can find a way to get that crowd on their side later in that game,

6:00 put the pressure on Buffalo.

6:01 But execution and details are going to be the key to the Montreal

6:04 Canadiens getting a building a two-game series lead in this series.

6:09 And Jakub Dobeš as well because of all

6:12 the goalies still alive in these playoffs,

6:14 only Frederik Andersen has a better goals against than Dobeš at this point.

6:18 Alongside TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun

6:20 and The Athletic's Arpon Basu, and Martin St.

6:24 Louis has led the Canadiens to a 2-1 lead over

6:27 the Buffalo Sabres here in the second round of the NHL playoffs.

6:30 And he was asked this morning about what it's

6:32 like being a guy who grew up in Montreal,

6:34 had a chip on his shoulder, and he mentioned the fact that he lives close by.

6:37 He walks to this rink.

6:39 He sees the fans.

6:40 He really embodies all of this.

6:41 And Arpon, as somebody who's been covering this team

6:43 since day one of his tenure as the head coach,

6:46 how have you noticed him evolve as a head coach?

6:49 Well, there's been a lot of evolution, but I mean just, you know,

6:51 the story behind him walking to the rink and and and being part of the people,

6:56 I think it's what was really an important step for Martin St.

6:58 Louis at the end of his playing career was to consume the NHL through the media.

7:03 And so the guy that you see giving all these great clips,

7:06 giving all the telling these great stories,

7:07 being really personable with the media,

7:09 is the same guy who had to consume the game through that lens.

7:12 And when he was a player, he was not like that.

7:15 You [laughter] know, he answered your question and said,

7:17 "I wasn't even-keeled as a player, but now he can be even-keeled as a coach."

7:20 So take that to his evolution as a coach, I think over the first few years,

7:25 his experience as a player drove a lot of his decisions as a coach.

7:28 That he has been in every player's shoes.

7:31 He has been a healthy scratch.

7:32 He's been waived.

7:33 He's a Hall of Fame forward.

7:35 He's been a top-line guy expected to produce.

7:37 He could relate with all his players.

7:38 But as this series has evolved, I think I've seen him become more and more

7:42 of a coach and less and less of a former player

7:44 and a lot of the decisions he's making are real

7:47 coaching decisions and less decisions based on his playing career.

7:50 And we should point out again the the the incredible gamble

7:53 that Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton took when they basically took Marty St.

7:58 Louis who had coached his son in peewee and made him an NHL coach.

8:01 No, I mean I think people forget it was really a leap of faith but not quite.

8:04 I mean people who knew Marty St.

8:06 Louis and played with him in Tampa thought

8:08 he was like another coach when he played.

8:10 One player said to me once that it's like

8:12 the marker would come out of his pants at intermission

8:14 and he would go on the whiteboard and draw up

8:15 a play while he was playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

8:18 So for a lot of people they're not surprised that he is now this.

8:22 It's just that he took an unconventional way

8:24 to become the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens.

8:26 Now St.

8:27 Louis was asked a couple of times about how he makes sure

8:29 the team maintains their composure given that they're up 2-1 in this series.

8:34 In that Tampa Bay Lightning series

8:35 this was completely back and forth, wins, losses.

8:38 So what learning lessons do you think

8:41 that the Montreal Canadiens need to take from their first

8:43 series against Tampa Bay to imply here to maybe

8:46 get a stronghold on this series against Buffalo?

8:48 Well Claire, listen they were in this building they were up 2-1 in the series

8:51 and 2-0 in game four and had a chance to go up 3-1

8:54 and they lost that game 3-2 and that game changed on a big hit

8:57 on Juraj Slafkovsky and they allowed themselves

9:00 to have the momentum wrestled away from them.

9:03 That that's a maturity lesson there.

9:04 They learned from that and they were a lot better the next game.

9:07 Game six, have a chance to close it out

9:09 in front of their own fans here and they played well.

9:12 They got really stymied by Andrei Vasilevskiy but still that was a tough lesson.

9:16 Go to Tampa and win this series.

9:18 So I think they've done a lot of growing up here already

9:20 in the last couple weeks and it might come in handy for game four.

9:23 The other thing that will come in handy and this is something that Martin St.

9:26 Louis has applied from day one because this team did a lot of losing when he

9:29 arrived and so one thing he established early

9:31 on in his tenure is that whatever happened yesterday,

9:35 today's a new day, let's win this day, let's get better today.

9:38 And that's what he's applying in these playoffs.

9:39 And so in each of those cases after losing those games,

9:42 those decisive games where they could have taken a stranglehold,

9:45 they would didn't wallow in despair.

9:47 They didn't they didn't, you know,

9:48 just think about what they had just the opportunity they had just wasted.

9:52 They put their focus on the next game and they won the next game each time.

9:55 And so what they have to do now is

9:57 sort of manufacture the same urgency they felt after

9:59 those games in a game [clears throat] that's not

10:01 as must-win for them as it is for the Sabres.

10:04 Now, this is the fifth year in the playoffs for Alex Carrier.

10:07 And he was asked this morning, "What's your advice to some of these young

10:09 players on the Montreal Canadiens being in this position,

10:11 feeling this pressure?" And he said, "Honestly, enjoy the moment,

10:14 have fun." And he said he thinks Lane Hutson

10:17 is really embracing that the most of all these players.

10:20 Do you agree with that statement, Arpon?

10:23 I mean, I think Lane Hutson's version of fun

10:24 is different than all of our versions of fun.

10:26 It's not quite the same thing.

10:28 You know, Lane Hutson eats, breathes, sleeps hockey.

10:31 And you know, like after game one, he has that stumble right off the bat.

10:35 He comes out the next day, says everyone was ready to play except for me,

10:38 basically wears the loss, and then goes out and plays two,

10:42 you know, dynamite games after that.

10:43 And this is something he rarely has to do that after

10:46 a game that where he comes out and owns it.

10:48 But every time he makes a mistake,

10:49 he does that and you see the level of his play go up.

10:52 So, I don't think that was much fun for Lane Hutson,

10:54 but this whole this whole element of being in a playoff series,

10:58 trying to break down an opponent, this is Lane Hutson's catnip.

11:02 Like this is what he loves to do.

11:03 And so when when Carrier says he's having fun, yeah, I agree with that.

11:07 It's just not the same kind of fun that we might have on on a on a given day.

11:10 I mean, this is a player the Canadiens will tell you

11:12 this that during the regular season they have a practice at 11:00 a.m.

11:14 at their practice facility and Lane Hutson shows up at the facility at 7:30 a.m.

11:18 cuz he just wants to be at the rink.

11:20 He's a rink rat.

11:21 Um they can't keep him off the ice.

11:23 I asked Martin St.

11:24 Louis a few days ago about maybe trying

11:26 to mitigate all that time on the ice between games.

11:28 And Martin St.

11:28 Louis said, "I'm not getting in the way of Lane Hutson's process.

11:32 If he wants to be on the ice every day, that's up to him.

11:35 So right now, given how the Montreal Canadiens are playing,

11:37 it might appear that they don't have a lot of weaknesses.

11:40 They've scored 11 goals in their last two games.

11:42 They're seeing depth scoring.

11:44 Juraj Slafkovský, Cole Caufield get on the board in the last game.

11:47 Jakub Dobiš has been sensational and they're playing physically.

11:51 So, what are their flaws right now?

11:54 Oh, they have flaws.

11:55 And you know, obviously Martin St.

11:57 Louis was asked about it and didn't answer that question.

11:59 He's He's open to a point with the media.

12:01 And so, but you look at you

12:03 mentioned Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovský scoring.

12:05 The Canadiens are up 2-1 in the second round of the playoffs.

12:07 They have not gotten a 5-on-5 goal from either of them.

12:10 That you I wouldn't have believed you if you

12:12 had told me that at the beginning of the series.

12:14 Uh defensively, they're still giving up a lot of grade A chances.

12:17 Jakub Dobiš is masking a lot of the stuff that they're

12:20 giving up and allowing his team to take over games.

12:24 But, you know, in the first period of game three,

12:25 that could have gone totally in the opposite direction if it were not for Dobiš.

12:28 So, there are things for the Canadiens to clean up.

12:30 They're definitely not flawless.

12:32 Uh but for a young team who's in this situation for the first time,

12:35 they're handling it pretty well.

12:36 Those are the flaws.

12:37 There's also concerns for Montreal.

12:38 Notably, their goalie getting run.

12:40 And uh you know, every couple of days during a playoff series,

12:44 a team meets with the series supervisor.

12:46 In this case, the series supervisor is Kay

12:48 Whitmore from the National Hockey League Toronto office.

12:51 I can guarantee you that Kent Hughes, the GM of the Montreal Canadiens,

12:54 will bring up the safety of his goalie in the next meeting

12:57 that he has ahead of game four with Kay Whitmore, which is normal.

13:00 It's what any GM would do in this position,

13:02 but it's clearly a tactic here for the Sabres to try to get under Dobiš's skin,

13:06 jabbing at him, yelling at him.

13:08 Obviously, in this case, taking a massive run at him in game three.

13:11 Um so, I suspect that that'll be part

13:13 of the dialogue and that's part of the gamesmanship, too,

13:16 because if Kay Whitmore takes that information and then

13:19 brings it to the game officials for game four,

13:22 who knows what the refs do with that information.

13:24 For the Buffalo Sabres, their backs are up against the wall.

13:27 And last night we heard that they were going

13:29 to be having a full skate here at Centre Bell.

13:31 But then this morning we wake up to the news that it's going to be an optional,

13:34 couple players on the ice just behind us,

13:36 and that they were going to be having a media availability at their hotel.

13:39 What do you make of that information?

13:41 So the Sabres are run by a very veteran person in Jarmo Kekalainen,

13:46 who's been around the block.

13:47 His right-hand man is the former Habs GM Marc Bergevin, and I have to believe,

13:52 without knowing, that they woke up this morning and said, "You know what?

13:55 I think we'll save our players from another crazy media spotlight

13:59 day at the Bell Centre." I've seen teams do this before.

14:02 Keep them in the hotel, give them a reset, get them away from the fray.

14:06 I don't think it's a bad idea.

14:08 No, it's I As a reporter, I think it's a terrible idea.

14:11 We're supposed to be covering both teams.

14:13 But yeah, I agree.

14:14 I think with everything going on with this team Don't forget,

14:17 like the Buffalo Sabres are a very young team.

14:19 They have not been in this situation, either.

14:21 We make a lot about the Canadiens being young,

14:23 but for many members of the Sabres and some of their top players,

14:26 Rasmus Dahlin and others, they've never been in the playoffs before.

14:28 So I think this is a learning curve, and this is one way to shelter them

14:32 in this current situation where they're under a lot of pressure.

14:34 And for the Buffalo Sabres, the track record is not positive,

14:37 because when they are down 2-1 in a series,

14:40 they are 0 and 14 in trying to come back and win that series.