Is Jakub Dobes’ play for Canadiens sustainable?

The Montreal Canadiens‘ tremendous history is attributable to a lot of factors, but a signature of their deep playoff runs always seems to be heroic goaltending. From Jacque Plante in the ’50s, to Ken Dryden in the ’70s, to Patrick Roy in 1986 and 1993, to even Carey Price in their run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2021, or Jaroslav Halak in their cinderalla run to the Conference Finals in 2010, goaltenders have a way of becoming legends in Montreal.

Now, in 2026, 24-year-old Jakub Dobes is emerging as the Canadiens’ latest folk hero between the pipes. Following Sunday’s 6-2 Game 3 win, Montreal has a 2-1 series lead over the Buffalo Sabres in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and Dobes’ performance has been central to their success. Through 10 starts this postseason, the Czech national has a .918 save percentage and a 2.13 goals-against average. Those numbers are better than what he’s put up during the regular season, while playing at more frequent clip than he has before in his young career.

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Steve Peters were joined by Marco D’Amico to discuss how much longer Dobes can keep up his stellar play.

Steve Peters: For me, the guy that really saved the game in the third period on Buffalo’s power play was Jakub Dobes. Outstanding. He has a .947 SV% over the last two games, but he’s 24 years old and he really hasn’t been in this position before, deep into the playoffs having to carry his team. One, can he sustain this? And two, is there any concern that at his age and his experience level, he could fall off as this playoffs continue?

Marco D’Amico: I think it’s sustainable in the sense that, what worried me the most about Jakub Dobes throughout the season was the technique. You can ask Carter (Hutton) whenever you get the chance, but he way too wild in his movements. He would pull himself out of position because he was trying to aggressively course correct. If the puck was going laterally, he’d go left to right and just keep sliding as if he forgot to stop his skate. Sometimes the emotion of the game would get to him. There was a goalie coaching change that happened mid-season. Marco Marciano came in from the American Hockey League in Laval to Montreal and it’s changed the dynamic for a guy like Dobes.

Technically, he’s on point. He’s seeing everything, he’s stopping everything. He plays big, which immediately intimidates the opposition. He doesn’t pull himself out of position. He covers his posts very well, it’s very hard to beat him on a wrap around or laterally. The only real way that you can beat him is if he’s not going to see the shot, which is exactly what we saw from Rasmus Dahlin on the power play for Buffalo’s second goal. The goals that Buffalo has scored in the last two games, there was nothing that Dobes could really do. You could even make an argument that outside of Jordan Greenway’s goal, again not a goal that he was, he’s not at fault for any of the goals that have been scored against. So I think it is sustainable in the sense that he’s playing in a way where I don’t think luck is very involved. I think a lot of it has to do with strong positioning, a really good mental state, and a defense that is more often than not giving him the line of sight to be able to go to work.

You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Monday’s episode here…