Habs goaltending much improved as a new chapter in rivalry begins

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It’s going on four years since goaltender Carey Price wedged his pads in the way of what most thought would be a long post-season run by the Maple Leafs.

But from that first-round upset to this season, Canadiens netminding hasn’t been much of a factor in regular-season play against the Leafs, who have a 7-3-1 edge head-to-head and built their 100-point campaigns at the expense of the Habs, who’ve never returned to playoffs.

Then October opened with Samuel Montembeault’s 48-save 1-0 shutout at the Bell Centre and while he gave up four in a loss to the Leafs a month later, another hot gardien de but at the Bell Centre on Saturday night is once more the topic du jour.

Jakub Dobes, a 23-year-old from Czechia, has created wild-card wildfire talk for his team’s standing with four wins in as many starts, a club-record four goals against for a newbie and a .963 save percentage.

“It seems that everything that hits him sticks to him,” Montreal centre Nick Suzuki told media in Dallas on Thursday after Dobes made 26 of his 32 saves in the final 40 minutes of a 3-1 win. “He’s having a great start to his career. Real confident goalie for a young guy.”

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But Montreal coach Martin St. Louis is apparently not going to rush things with Dobes, indicating Saturday morning that Montembeault would start, having played well himself as the Canadiens fashioned a recoird of 11-2-1 since Dec. 17.  It’s easy to see why scalpers will score in this 849th meeting of the NHL’s oldest rivals when the usual caravan of Leafs fans arrive in Montreal.

There’s a bit of pressure off the visitors following their own eventful win on Thursday — rallying three times when the buzzsaw New Jersey Devils had leads — to win in overtime and reverse the recent booing trend at home.

A fourth straight loss would’ve extended the season-high for new coach Craig Berube, who instead takes a three-point Atlantic Division lead over Florida into Montreal.

In Toronto’s first game of what will be at least a week minus injured centre John Tavares (lower body) the Core Four was re-invented as the Trio Grande with Auston Matthews and William Nylander each scoring twice and Mitch Marner delivering two nifty passes on the tying and winning goals. They and Bobby McMann all factored in a Matthews power-play goal, strikes in back-to-back games for the much-maligned five-forward unit.

When engaged, the three could make life miserable for Dobes while Matthew Knies, Max Domi and McMann are overdue for some offence. Domi had one of his better games of late on Thursday as Tavares’ second-line replacement.

“We’ve talked about that all year, we’ve had injuries, guys stepping up with big moments and playing big minutes,” Marner said Thursday. “Domes isn’t shy to that, he’s always up to that challenge and he’s a hell of a player. His patience and passing are top-notch.”

On the blueline, Jake McCabe came back for a week’s absence with a suspected concussion. He played a game-high 24:15, took five shots on goal, earned two assists and blocked five of the 16 that Toronto skaters stopped.

“It meant a lot to have him back,” Matthews said. “He plays such a big role for us, offensively and then defensively and he’s playing against the top lines (with Chris Tanev).”

The Leafs took Friday off and Berube indicated a couple of changes at Saturday morning’s skate with Ryan Reaves coming back on the fourth line, bumping Connor Dewar. Max Pacioretty, like Domi a former Hab, stays in, while Fraser Minten, called up from the Marlies to fill Tavares’ place on the roster, remains in reserve.

lhornby@postmedia.com

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