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The Montreal Canadiens didn't get the best goalie performance out of Jakub Dobes in Game 1 against the Buffalo Sabres.
Of the first 10 shots on target he faced, 4 went into his net.
The Sabres went on to win, 4-2, and now there are questions about whether Dobes should maintain his spot.
Daily Faceoff's Tyler Yaremchuk doesn't actually think Montreal should permanently bench Dobes. He just wonders if the Canadiens would be better served giving Dobes a game of rest and instead letting Jacob Fowler in net for a game.
"These are Jakub Dobes’ starts by month throughout the regular season: six, six, seven, six, two in February because of the Olympic break, eight in March, and five in April," Yaremchuk said. "He’s started eight times now in the last 17 days, that matches the most starts he had in an entire month during the regular season. If you’re going to go seven games with the Buffalo Sabres here, that number is going to be 14 starts in a 30-day span. Do you rest him for a game? Do you just kind of say 'Hey, it’s still your crease, but we’re going to give you Game 2 off. We have trust in Fowler, take a day off, take a breather. When this series goes back to home ice, whether it’s 1-1 or 2-0, we’re going right back to you.'"
MORE: Sabres 'blend in well with this city' in Game 1 win over Canadiens
It's an interesting premise, for sure, although there always comes the chance that the other goalie plays so well and you can't return to Dobes. That's sort of what happened with the Sabres when they pulled Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for Alex Lyon, who hasn't given the goal back.
Yaremchuk's colleague Colby Cohen doesn't agree with the idea.
"I don’t think I would do that, I really don’t," Cohen told Yaremchuk. "Not that I don’t trust Fowler, because I think Fowler is a massive part of the future, but I personally believe that Dobes has been good enough. Yes, there’s the one he would like back, but I think you’ve got to leave him in the net, because if you put Fowler in and you say it’s only one game, what happens if Fowler goes and has a shutout? Well now it’s not one game. Yes, it’s a great problem, but you almost created an unnecessary story and an unnecessary problem."
Whatever happens, the Canadiens need to do a better job of scoring in 5-on-5 to have a chance to beat the Sabres.
It's going to be loud on Friday night in Buffalo, and Montreal needs to overcome that to find a way to bounce back.
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