Dobes, Canadiens edge Lightning 2-1 in Game 7, advance to face Sabres in second round

TAMPA — Jakub Dobes still couldn’t process it.

The Montreal Canadiens’ rookie goalie was under siege, while his team could barely generate a shot on goal. At the other end stood Andrei Vasilevskiy, a future Hall of Fame netminder he had looked up to for years.

But Dobes had always envisioned delivering when it mattered most — and he did just that Sunday night.

Dobes made 28 saves as the Canadiens stole Game 7 on the road, advancing to the second round with a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning despite recording the fewest shots on goal ever in a Stanley Cup playoff victory.

“Inside, I’m really happy, but I think it’s going to kick in later. Dream big, I guess,” said the candid 24-year-old from Czechia. “I’ve always been a dreamer, always wanted these moments, and this is definitely one of the coolest games and situations I’ve ever been in.”

The Canadiens managed just nine shots against relentless pressure from the Lightning, including a stretch of 26 minutes 57 seconds without one. They went the entire second period without a shot — despite two power plays — a first in franchise playoff history.

Dobes kept his group alive until Alex Newhook batted a puck out of the air beside the net for the go-ahead goal at 11:07 of the third period.

“Many times in a season the guys bail me out and help me out, and I try to do the same,” he said. “I was just trying to keep the guys in it and I was waiting for them to get going, and that is exactly what happened.”

Broadcast cameras captured Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis celebrating in the dressing room post-game.

“You’re not going to win many games shooting (nine) pucks on net, but you’re going to win this one!” St. Louis said, before pointing to his goalie in the corner. “Dobes, heck of a job.”

Dobes, who took the reins as the Canadiens’ No. 1 goalie just a few months ago, denied quality looks from everyone from Nikita Kucherov and Brandon Hagel to Gage Goncalves and Oliver Bjorkstrand. Only Dominic James, with a power-play deflection in the second period, beat him.

“He’s grown a lot as a goalie. He’s super confident in himself, which you love to see,” captain Nick Suzuki said. “He’s a gamer. He’s been doing that since he got to our team, and we’re going to need him to continue playing as we go along here.”

Montreal will face Buffalo in the next round after the Sabres eliminated the Boston Bruins in six games. What’s bound to be an exciting matchup between two up-and-coming teams begins Wednesday in Buffalo.

The win nevertheless capped an epic series against the Lightning, a compelling matchup between a young Montreal group launching its competitive window and an experienced Lightning aiming to add to its legacy.

The series featured seven one-goal games and four overtimes after both teams finished with 106 points in the regular season. The Canadiens could have won the series in Game 6 on Friday, but the Lightning staved off elimination with a thrilling 1-0 overtime win at the Bell Centre.

In the end, the most lopsided game of the series did not go to the team that drove the play.

“The end of the game, you’re just sitting there saying the Hockey Gods have been in my corner many, many times, and tonight they were in the other corner,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “It’s not the movies, it’s not something where you can retake it and get the scene right, it’s live theatre right there in front of you.

“That’s why it’s unbelievable to be a part of something like this, but it damn well stings when you’re on the wrong side of it.”

Montreal is the only Canadian team still standing after the Ottawa Senators and Edmonton Oilers bowed out in the first round. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, exits in the opening round for the fourth straight year after making three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup final, including championships in 2020 and 2021.

Winning a playoff round — especially against the Lightning — marks another step in a remarkable rise for the Canadiens, who sat fifth-last in the NHL standings just two seasons ago.

The franchise embarked on the first full-scale rebuild in its storied history after a disastrous start to the 2021-22 season, on the heels of a Cup final loss to Tampa Bay.

Suzuki and Cole Caufield remained foundational pieces through a regime change that saw Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes take over the front office. Behind the bench, the Canadiens turned to St. Louis despite his famously limited coaching experience.

Now they stand among the NHL’s final eight after beating the Lightning — the very model of sustained contention the Canadiens set out to emulate when their rebuild began.

“You look at their steps, and it’s something that we’re trying to replicate and reproduce that,” said St. Louis, a former Lightning great. “I wanted to have a team that is able to play in possession, that is capable of defending themselves, that has a good power play. There are a lot of things that I absorbed from what the Lightning did, and I tried to bring that to Montreal.

“It’s a big challenge to go and beat this team in the first round.”

The Sabres are next. And it could be another closely contested affair.

The NHL’s best team after Jan. 1, Buffalo snapped a 14-year playoff drought and won the Atlantic Division title with 109 points this season.

A young core led by captain Rasmus Dahlin and forward Tage Thompson also helped lead the Sabres past the Bruins for the franchise’s first series win since 2007.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 3, 2026.

Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press