Jakub Dobes turned down the Habs before Game 7 run
Jakub Dobes admitted he flat-out turned down the Canadiens when they first pushed him to work with a mental performance coach as a young pro.
The 24-year-old netminder shared the story with Elliotte Friedman this week, days before tonight's win-or-go-home Game 7 at KeyBank Center.
Goalie coach Marco Marciano was the one who first nudged him in that direction. He'd noticed the young Czech tightening up in high-leverage moments.
Dobes said no. He wasn't sold on the idea of opening up to a stranger about what was happening between his ears.
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And then he caved. He met with Pete Fry, the mental performance coach he still talks to every single week.
Now? Fry is a fixture in his routine. Quiet weapon. The kind of hire that doesn't show up on a roster sheet but lives inside every rebound he tracks.
How Pete Fry quietly reshaped Montreal's playoff goaltender
The receipts are loud. The Czech carried the load against Tampa Bay in Round 1 and pushed the Lightning out in seven.
Against the Sabres, he's been Montreal's best performer through six games, with the series knotted 3-3 heading into puck drop tonight.
You don't have to squint to find the signature moment. Game 5 in Buffalo, the road skate, where he coughed up three goals on four shots and somehow stuck around to backstop a 6-3 win.
That's the kind of in-game reset that used to wreck him. Now it's the thing that defines him.
Game 6 was a different story. The Habs got hammered 3-8 at the Bell Centre on Saturday night and the Sabres marched back to Buffalo with belief.
So here's the question. Does Martin St-Louis go right back to the 24-year-old at $965,000 against the No. 4 team in the league, or does he flinch?
The kid is sitting on 5 wins in 13 playoff outings with a .906 save percentage. The line doesn't pop on paper. The wins are the ones that count.
Lindy Ruff's group ran past Montreal at their building 48 hours ago. The Canadiens swung back in Game 5 on the road. That history is a wash.
What isn't a wash is the mental piece. The guy who said no two years ago is now the one Kent Hughes hands the season to.
If the Czech loses this game, the run ends. If he wins it, Montreal is in the conference final and a kid who almost never asked for help becomes the story of the spring.
Pete Fry's never lacing them up. But he's somewhere in that warm-up.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 16, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Rasmus Dahlin | 1 | 4 | 5 | |
| Tage Thompson | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| Jack Quinn | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Zach Benson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jake Evans | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Ivan Demidov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Konsta Helenius | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Zach Metsa | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Arber Xhekaj | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Bowen Byram | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Caufield | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Michael Matheson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ryan McLeod | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Norris | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mattias Samuelsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | - | - | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||