Arber Xhekaj spills the beans on how Canadiens' Jakub Dobes sparked all-out Habs-Capitals brawl

Arber Xhekaj shared the behind-the-scenes story of how Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes unintentionally sparked a full-on brawl with the Capitals during their 2025 Stanley Cup Playoff series.

With Sam Montembeault sidelined early in Game 3 due to a groin injury, Dobes stepped in as the backup, but it wasn’t just his goaltending that made headlines.

Speaking during a panel at Alex Newhook’s charity golf event, Xhekaj revealed that Dobes had set off the heated second-intermission bench-clearing scuffle between the Canadiens and the Capitals that night.

“So, Dobey stands by the bench, right close to their bench, and he’s looking over and he’s chirping every single guy to come off the ice, yelling at them, chirping them, next thing you know our goalie gets hurt and Dobey has to go on the ice,” Xhekaj said. “The period’s over so the other team has to skate across the ice and Dobey has to skate through all of them. So, nobody left, they just waited for Dobey, because they wanted to have a "word" with him, and then I got in there, and it was just – it was madness.”

The brawl started with Canadiens forward Josh Anderson and Capitals forward Tom Wilson picking each other out of the crowd and continuing their fight into the Washington bench. Linesman Kyle Flemington found himself in the middle of the melee, trying to break up the scuffle.

Wilson and Anderson received two minutes for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct, while Capitals forward Lars Eller and Xhekaj also received two-minute penalties for roughing.

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Jakub Dobes's take on all-out Habs-Capitals brawl

Jakub Dobes, who was also on the panel, admitted that his overconfidence on the bench ended up backfiring.

He shared that the Capitals weren’t quite welcoming once he stepped into the crease, and they gave him a rough time during his first few minutes on the ice.

“It was crazy,” Jakub Dobes said of the brawl. “I was probably the most nervous ever. But we won.”

While he didn’t reveal what he told the Capitals before being called in to replace Montembeault, Dobes was glad that his performance got the job done. The Canadiens went on to win 6-3 win over the Capitals but eventually dropped the first-round series in five games, losing 4-1.

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Edited by Bhargav