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The Habs were still riding a hot streak into Saturday’s game, with six wins in ten games, in spite of a bit of a letdown in Columbus, where they dropped a 5-4 decision to the Blue Jackets, another team out of the playoff picture. Florida their first opponent on the post-Christmas road trip, would be a different matter altogether. The 2024 Stanley Cup champions, the Panthers were tied with the Maple Leafs for the Eastern Conference lead, at 22 wins each, eight more than the Canadiens had managed to scrape up before the holiday season.

And yet, as a former Montreal GM was fond of saying, anything can happen, especially in a single hockey game. And so it was this time, as Jakub Dobes, freshly called up for his first NHL game, turned away 34 shots and Kirby Dach, the subject of many fan complaints this season, put the puck in the Florida net twice in a 4-0 win for the bleu blanc et rouge.

Starting Lines

Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Laine – Dach – Newhook
Anderson – Dvorak – Gallagher
Heineman – Evans – Armia

Hutson – Matheson
Guhle – Carrier
Xhekaj – Savard

Dobes
Montembeault

Ten Thoughts

1) The game looked a bit lethargic early on, but the Canadiens were able to apply some good pressure on the Panthers, and the “fourth” line, Armia-Evans-Heineman, was again notable in taking the game to the opposition.

2) Mackie Samoskevich was called for a high stick on David Savard for the game’s first penalty, 13:46 into the first period. Savard had some blood in the face but somehow neither of the referees noticed that, and the Habs’ bench couldn’t get them to take a look, either.

3) The power play itself was not what the Habs fans were expecting after eight Patrik Laine goals since his arrival on the team. The Florida penalty-killers repeatedly broke up the plays and cleared the puck out of the defensive zone. The Canadiens managed two shots, by Laine and Nick Suzuki, but neither looked particularly dangerous. Notably, Martin St-Louis had moved Laine to the right side–with Cole Caufield back in his usual spot–but, at least for now, the new formation did not seem to be clicking.

4) With just under two minutes to go in the first, the forechecking of the third line got them an excellent scoring chance: David Savard’s pass broke Brendan Gallagher onto a two-on-one over the Florida blue line, and Gallagher made a nice flip pass over the defenceman to Christian Dvorak. Alas, it was just slightly too far for Dvorak to gain control of it, and he managed only a weak tap on net in what could have been much more.

5) The Habs got a long-awaited shot in the arm early in the second period, as the big centreman potted only his third goal of the season. The play was created by none other than Laine, though: the big sniper skated the puck from the defensive zone through neutral ice and into the Florida end, protecting the puck and keeping Dmitry Kulikov at bay. By the time Laine curled around the back of the net and to the left side, he had four Panthers chasing him. Laine quickly found Kaiden Guhle open at the blue line, and Guhle sent it immediately to Alex Newhook at the right side of Spencer Knight in the Florida net. Newhook passed it across the goalmouth to Dach, who deflected the puck into the net. Not really a high-skill play, but exactly what Dach needs to start rebuilding his confidence.

6) Newhook had a good scoring chance on his next shift, about three minutes later, but this time Knight was able to kick it away. However, Dach got his pretty goal six minutes before the end of the second frame. The Panthers flubbed a line change and Eetu Luostarinen fell down in the neutral zone, giving the Habs a glorious opportunity. Newhook found Dach, who outskated Kulikov–Laine and Newhook were right behind the Russian defenceman–to get a clean breakaway. Dach held off making a move until Knight moved first and then executed a pretty backhand shot to beat the Florida goaltender and give the Habs a two-goal lead.

7) Dvorak was a bit too aggressive in checking Carter Verhaeghe late in the period and attracted a slashing call. The Panthers managed 45 seconds of six-on-five play before the Habs gained possession to get a whistle and start the power play proper. Fortuitously, too, as Savard had just broken his stick in front of the net.

8) And then it was time for the Jake Evans show again. Working on the penalty kill with his usual linemate, Armia, the two first broke up the Florida power play and then cleared the zone. Armia forced Sam Reinhart to make a rushed pass back into his own end, and Evans deftly intercepted that pass. Evans and Armia broke in, with only Aaron Ekblad back, and Evans snapped a wrist shot past Knight for a 3-0 lead, and a now a four-game goal-scoring streak.

9) In the third period with the numerous Canadiens fans already chanting “ole, ole, ole”, Juraj Slafkovsky snatched a loose puck from a Florida giveaway in the Montreal zone, and skated it into the Florida end along the left-side boards, shielding the puck from Gustav Forsling’s attempts to pry it away. Meanwhile, Caufield had sprinted away from Ekblad, who simply could not keep up, and took a perfect pass from Slafkovsky. Caufield lifted the puck just over Knight’s left pad and under his glove to seal the score at 4-0. A good feeling for the young sniper, too, as he had gone seven games without potting a marker.

10) Now, we are at the final thought, and you might be wondering, will there not be any mention of Jakub Dobes? Indeed, the young goaltender played a superb game in his first NHL appearance, turning away 34 shots–the same number he faced in his sole complete preseason game, a 2-1 loss to the Maple Leafs. The Panthers’ expected goals tally was somewhere between two and three, and yet Dobes kept a clean sheet. The Montreal defence corps admittedly had one of their stronger games, keeping most of the shots to the outside, but Dobes made key saves when it mattered. An excellent debut, but let’s not lose perspective: the Habs also had a young centre who scored a hat trick in his first game, and we all remember how that worked out…

HW Habs Three Stars

First Star: Jakub Dobes (34 shots, 34 saves, 1.000 save percentage, 2.38 GSAx) played a statement game in his first regular-season appearance. He had looked good in his two preseason appearances, but his play today clearly says that Fowler is not the only Jacob that the Habs should be paying attention to in their search for a future goaltender. It will be interesting to see how the Montreal management team handles his development from here on out.

Second Star: Kirby Dach (2g, 0a, 3 shots, +2, 16:02 TOI) continued his streak of improved performances and was finally rewarded for those by scoring not one, but two goals. The first broke the ice, but he should take even more confidence from his play on the second one, the breakaway from an Alex Newhook pass. Martin St-Louis clearly approved, too, as Dach had the highest five-on-five ice time of any of the forwards at 15:31.

Third Star: Jake Evans (1g, 0a, 1 shot, +1, 13:51 TOI) gets a star once again. The Armia-Evans-Heineman line had a tough assignment for much of the afternoon against Alexander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, and Evan Rodrigues but barely gave them a look at Dobes. And when the Panthers were trying to get to within a goal in the late-second power play, Evans stole their puck and broke their backs with a 3-0 shorthanded goal.