Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes stole the show in a tilt against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. Dobes stopped all 34 shots that the Panthers threw at him in a 4-0 victory.
With this performance, Dobes becomes the fifth goaltender to record a shutout in their NHL debut in Canadiens history. The last Habs goalie to achieve this was Yann Danis in October 2005 during a 2-0 win against the Atlanta Thrashers.
Also, he becomes the second active goaltender to earn a shutout in their debut. The other is John Gibson of the Anaheim Ducks in April 2014.
The Czech was Montreal’s fifth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. The Canadiens waived Cayden Primeau, so Dobes was given his first opportunity in the NHL four years after being drafted.
The Canadiens got an early look at Dobes in the pre-season where he made two appearances and put up a .957 save percentage and a 1.39 goals-against average.
Before this win against the Panthers, Dobes spent this season and last with Montreal’s AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket. This season he’s played 14 games with the Rocket, winning nine of those contests while recording a .910 SP and 2.44 GAA.
His last game in the minors was against the Belleville Senators, in which he stopped 31 of 32 shots in a 2-1 win. He finished that game with a .969 SP. But, in his whole AHL career, the 23-year-old has played a total of 65 games with a 33-21-7 record in Laval and has a .906 SP and 2.82 GAA across two campaigns.
Before his AHL stint, he played in the NCAA for Ohio State University and was recognized as the best goaltender in the league in the 2021-22 season. Over two seasons in the NCAA, he played 75 games with a 42-28-5 record, while earning a .926 SP.
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