After a trade deadline that saw Kent Hughes and the Montreal Canadiens stand pat, they continued their western Canadian road swing against the Calgary Flames. A win would have been massive for their wild card hopes, but they found themselves in a very low-scoring affair, during which they were unable to find a single goal en-route to a 1-0 loss.
It was quite the goaltending duel between Jakub Dobes and Dustin Wolf, and unfortunately, Wolf was the better man on this night.
Jakub Dobes makes a couple unreal saves. He's been very good for the Habs tonight.
— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 9, 2025
🎥: Sportsnet | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/rK5EcXOqtO
True though this was a loss in a goaltending duel, you could not say that Dobes lost it for the Habs. Both goaltenders were stellar on Saturday night, and Wolf just happened to make one extra save. Expected goals at even-strength were 1.98-1.38 in favour of Montreal, so neither team was able to score as expected. Wolf made one extra save, and that was the difference.
The Habs were the better team in the second and third periods, but they honestly owe a debt of gratitude to Dobes that the game was still tied after the first. Montreal struggled mightily to get going in the first 20 minutes, and Calgary could have taken a multi-goal lead into the dressing room if not for Dobes. He gave them a chance to win that game, and they couldn’t find any scoring at the other end to make that happen.
Even so, I find it hard to be too upset with the rest of the team. The way they were able to regroup after a bad first period was commendable. If I were to nitpick some fault, it would be with the power play – which had two opportunities that weren’t exactly ideal in terms of execution – but overall, they played well enough to win that game if Wolf is closer to average.
There’s no sugar coating that this is a setback for the team’s playoff hopes. They’ll be in Vancouver this Tuesday, and the goal will have to be to come out swinging in the first, and make sure that they have enough production offensively to win the game no matter what happens in between the pipes.
There will be no easy games from here out, so they will have to be capable of shaking off an unfortunate result like last night’s.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll be back on Tuesday night, as the western road swing continues against the Vancouver Canucks.
