The Montreal Canadiens are seemingly entering a must-win game, or as much as a game can be must-win early in the season. After a good performance to open the season against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Canadiens have struggled.
In the game against the Penguins, they did get it to overtime and deserve a lot of credit for overcoming a four goal deficit but there is an argument to be made you can't let a team score that much. Unfortunately, the Canadiens opponents have continued to do that as they lost 6-4 to the Hurricanes and then gave up five, two of which were open-net goals, to the Nashville Predators.
They are set to play a Detroit Red Wings team that has a long list of issues and are 1-3 entering this game. This has to be a get-right game for the Canadiens and these are three players to watch closely.
Jakub Dobes
After starting the first three games of the season, Jakub Dobes had the night with Jacob Fowler getting the start against the Nashville Predators. The assumption would be that Dobes gets the start against the Red Wings and this is a great chance for him to put a tough start to the season behind him.
Through the first three games, Dobes has a 1-1-1 record but has a goals against average of 4.43 and a save percentage of only .856. According to MoneyPuck, Dobes has the fourth-worst goals saved above expected this season at -4.0.
Dobes has played well in his career against the Red Wings with a save percentage of .948 and a goals against average of only 1.52. This is a great opportunity for the young goalie to bounce back and put the start of the season behind him.
Mike Matheson
Another player who will want to put recent performances behind them is defenseman Mike Matheson. The Canadiens defenseman was called for a penalty late in the third period against Nashville that the Predators converted into a goal, which would ultimately be the game-winning goal on Thursday night.
It just felt like an off night all around for Matheson with plays like this one early in the game against Nashville.
Filthy move from Mike Matheson here 😮 pic.twitter.com/QfpyHvYDSs
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) October 8, 2026
On Thursday, the Canadiens elected to pair Noah Dobson and Lane Hutson together with Matheson being paired with Alexandre Carrier. For this game, it will be worth watching if the Canadiens once again go with those pairs or move Dobson back with Matheson.
Cole Caufield
When a team is struggling or needs to bounce back, there is no better time than now for Mr. Saturday Night to make an appearance. Cole Caufield is the Canadiens best goal-scorer and this is a game where he can really make his presence known.
Caufield already has put together a great Saturday night performance this season and helped the Canadiens come back against the Penguins with two goals. However, that has been the only two goals he has on the season and over the last two games has a +/- of -1 with seven shots on goal.
The Red Wings rank near the bottom of the league in goals scored with an average of only 2.50. This is not a high-scoring team and if Caufield can put in a couple of goals, that should be enough to get Montreal the win.
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