It's hard for a backup goaltender to sit on the bench at a raucous Bell Centre and have to come into a game cold after their starter suffers an injury or struggles. It's even harder when that backup goaltender is a rookie with only 16 NHL appearances under his belt. However, on Friday night, when Sam Montembeault suffered what looks like a lower-body injury, Jakub Dobes stepped up and stopped seven of eight shots to get the victory.
It isn't too surprising that Dobes entered the game and performed. He struggled for a short stretch towards the end of the season, but stopped 70 of 72 shots in his final two starts. If the Canadiens needed Dobes to step in, they had plenty of confidence he could it. It's just their preference was that Montembeault would shoulder most of the load.
Nothing can throw you a curveball quicker than the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Montreal was in the middle of a Game 3 that had the Bell Centre fans going absolutely bonkers, when all of a sudden during a television timeout it was Dobes making his way to the net. The replay showed Montembeault grabbing his left hamstring during the previous play, which led people to believe that was the cause.
Martin St. Louis commented on Dobes Saturday in a way that should excite Montreal fans. If there were some out there who had some doubts about Dobes' ability, St. Louis' belief should make all of it disappear.
“I think he knows what he did this year for us. He came in and had a really great start. Then he went through a tougher stretch for a young goaltender but finished strong. The last two games he played, when you think about them, we needed those points, and he played and gave us good performances. We know he’s capable of doing that. And we have to play well enough in front of him to not force him to steal us a game, but we know he can do that, too. I think he’ll be ready for no matter what, and we’ll try to help him.”
The good news for the Canadiens is that it could be a battle of the backups in Game 4. Logan Thompson suffered an unfortunate injury after Montembeault, which added to the drama of Game 3. Charlie Lindgren, a name all too familiar to the Canadiens, could get the opportunity to beat his old team.