Canadiens’ Jakub Dobes was left in Game 5, no thanks to Martin St. Louis

Things looked rough for the Montreal Canadiens in the first period of their Game 5 matchup against the Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference Semifinal. Buffalo scored three times and took a 3-2 lead into the first intermission.

While there was some consideration of pulling goaltender Jakub Dobes in favor of backup Sam Montembeault, the decision was ultimately made to keep him in. Thankfully for him and his teammates, the Canadiens rallied and earned a 6-3 win at KeyBank Centre, taking a three-games-to-two series lead.

However, head coach Martin St. Louis said that it was the call of assistant coach Trevor Letowski and goaltending coach Marco Marciano to leave Dobes in, and that he prefers to refrain from tough goalie decisions.

“I feel like the goalie position is probably the one position that I can’t help much with,” St. Louis said via Chris G. on X, formerly known as Twitter. “So I try to stay out of it and not be emotionally driven or be upset that we’re down[…] Trevor radioed up top to our goalie coach, Marco, and he made the call. It was a very quick call, too; he said, ‘No, keep him in.’ Okay, let’s move on.'”

#Habs Martin St. Louis on keeping Jakub Dobes in goal

"I feel like the goalie position is probably the one position that I can't help much with. So I try to stay out of it and not be emotionally driven or be upset that we’re down[…] Trevor radioed up top to our goalie coach,… pic.twitter.com/Tk1pngfYTr

— Chris G (@ChrisHabs360) May 15, 2026

Dobes, who has taken firm control of the starting duties in the Canadiens crease, finished with 33 saves on the 36 shots that the Sabres fired his way. He’s 7-5 so far in the playoffs with a 2.28 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage.

He can lead the Canadiens to their first round-three appearance since their surprise run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final when they host the Sabres in Game 6 at Bell Centre on Saturday evening. Puck drop is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. ET.

The Carolina Hurricanes await the winner of the series after sweeping the Philadelphia Flyers.

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