Habs G Jakub Dobes shuts out Panthers in NHL debut

Jakub Dobes made 33 saves in his NHL debut, leading the visiting Montreal Canadiens to a 4-0 win against the Florida Panthers on Saturday afternoon in Sunrise, Fla.

The 23-year-old Czech, who was selected by the Canadiens in the fifth round of 2020 NHL Draft, is the first Montreal goalie with a shutout in his first NHL game since Yann Danis in a 2-0 victory against Atlanta Thrashers in October of 2005.

Kirby Dach scored two goals, Jake Evans and Cole Caufield also scored and Alex Newhook had two assists for the Canadiens, who have won four of five.

Spencer Knight made 20 saves for Florida. The Panthers were shut out in back-to-back games for the second time this month.

After a scoreless first period, the Canadiens scored three times in the second.

Dach started the scoring at 1:39. Kaiden Guhle received a pass back to the left point with a wide lane to feed Newhook in the right circle. Newhook made a one-touch pass to Dach at the inside edge of the left circle and he scored with a one-timer for a 1-0 lead.

Montreal forward Patrik Laine poked the puck off the stick of Jesper Boqvist as he tried to maneuver through the neutral zone, and it went to Newhook. He spotted Dach gaining separation from Eetu Luostarinen in the neutral zone and fed him for a breakaway goal and a 2-0 lead at 13:51.

The Panthers went on their first power play when Christian Dvorak was called for slashing Carter Verhaeghe, but it was the Canadiens who scored short-handed.

Sam Reinhart tried to feed the puck back to Aaron Ekblad, but it was intercepted by Evans in the neutral zone, creating a 2-on-1 breakaway. Evans elected to shoot the puck from the right circle and beat Knight over his blocker for a 3-0 lead at 17:19.

Caufield made it 4-0 at 14:17 of the third when he scored off a centering pass from Juraj Slafkovsky.

--Field Level Media