Jakub Dobes admits Martin St-Louis' recent gesture bothered him
Jakub Dobes gave Martin St-Louis the answer the Canadiens needed after his roughest playoff night.
Since the playoffs opened, Dobes has turned into one of Montreal's biggest pillars. He hasn't just held the crease. He's helped drive the run.
That's why the buzz around him has changed fast.
A goalie who started as a strong story is now getting real Conn Smythe chatter.
It didn't happen by accident.
Dobes kept coming up with timely stops, often when the Canadiens looked one mistake away from losing control.
Then came Game 6 against the Buffalo Sabres, and the rhythm broke.
Dobes gave up 6 goals on 33 shots before Jacob Fowler finished the night.
That was the first real dent in his playoff run. And by his own admission, being pulled didn't sit well.
Dobes turned frustration into his best answer
That reaction mattered.
Plenty of young goalies carry a bad night into the next puck drop and let it linger around the crease.
Dobes did the opposite.
In the next game, he stopped 37 of 39 shots and helped push Montreal into the Eastern Conference Final.
That bounce-back may say more than the stat line.
The save total was big, but the response was bigger.
Earlier in the 2025-2026 season, Dobes looked far more vulnerable when things went sideways.
The emotion was easy to see, and sometimes it stayed with him.
One of the clearest examples came after a loss to the New Jersey Devils, when he was visibly shaken.
That version of Dobes feels farther away now.
The goalie in front of Montreal today looks calmer, sharper, and far more settled in his game.
He isn't fighting the moment. He looks ready for it.
That's a major shift this late in the playoffs.
The Canadiens don't just have a talented goalie right now.
They have one who can absorb a bad outing, reset fast, and give the bench belief again.
And at this stage, that may be what separates a nice playoff story from a real shot at something bigger.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 20, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Dylan Coghlan | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Pavel Dorofeyev | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nic Dowd | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Landeskog | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Valeri Nichushkin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Colton | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Tomas Hertl | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ben Hutton | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nathan MacKinnon | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mitch Marner | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brandon Saad | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Colton Sissons | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Devon Toews | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Ahcan | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | - | - | |
| Brent Burns | - | - | - | |
| Jack Drury | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||