Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes really hates to lose.
That was obvious after the Canadiens lost 4-3 to the Devils in overtime Thursday night in New Jersey with Dobes stopping 24 of the 28 shots he faced. It was the first loss of the season for Dobes, who saw his record fall to 6-0-1 with a 2.25 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage.
Dobes had tears in his eyes after the game when he spoke with reporters in the Canadiens’ locker room, saying he took the loss personally.
“We played good enough to win,” Dobes said. “Just not good enough from my side.
“It just sucks,” Dobes added. “It happened last year, it happened this year, lose to those guys in OT. So just disappointed in myself, that’s pretty much it.”
Last season, Dobes made 40 saves in a 4-3 OT loss to the Devils at the Bell Centre on Jan. 25. It was Dobes’s first loss in the NHL after winning his first five games with the Canadiens after getting called up from the AHL’s Laval Rocket after Christmas.
Canadiens’ Cole Caufield (13) competes for the puck against New Jersey Devils’ Nico Hischier (13) at Prudential Center on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Newark, N.J.
Reporters in New Jersey asked Canadiens defenceman Noah Dobson after the game what he thought about Dobes having tears in his eyes.
“We all know that the hockey he’s played to start the year is impressive,” Dobson said. “But it just shows the character and passion in this room. Everyone holds themselves to a high standard and wants to do what they can to help the team win. But we know in the room he’s been a backbone for us this year, so there’s no need for him to do that and put it on himself.”
For the second game in a row, the Canadiens gave up a goal on the first shot against them with Cody Glass beating Dobes at 1:53 of the first period. Glass beat Dobes with a shot he’d probably want to have back after teammates Oliver Kapanen and Alex Newhook collided just outside the defensive blue line and lost the puck. In Tuesday night’s 5-4 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers at the Bell Centre, Samuel Montembeault was beaten on the first shot he faced at 1:56 of the first period.
Against the Devils, Kirby Dach tied it up just over a minute after Glass scored with his fourth goal of the season and his third in two games. Jake Evans and Kapanen also scored for the Canadiens, who blew a third-period lead for the second straight game. They were leading 3-2 when Timo Meier scored with 1:07 left on the clock and Devils goalie Jacob Markstrom on the bench for an extra attacker.
Jesper Bratt scored the winner for the Devils at 1:33 of overtime after a horrible giveaway by the Canadiens’ Alex Newhook just inside the offensive blue line, resulting in a breakaway. Bratt beat Dobes through the five-hole with a backhand move.
“It’s never a good feeling when you lose, but I felt like we played good enough to win tonight,” Dach told reporters in New Jersey. “We just got to find a way in the last couple of minutes to kind of bear down and close out games like that.
“We played well tonight,” Dach added. “We did a lot of the right things and had a lot of chances. It’s just we got to find a way to start closing those games out.”
Dach had 10 goals in 57 games last season before having season-ending knee surgery for the second straight year. He didn’t score his fourth goal last season until his 35th game and this season he has that many in 11 games.
This was the seventh time in 14 games this season the Canadiens have gone to overtime and they won the first five. The good news for the Canadiens is despite losing the last two games they picked up two points. The Devils improved to 10-4-0 and moved into first place in the Eastern Conference ahead of the Canadiens, who fell to 9-3-2, with both teams having 20 points.
“I think from the outside they all think this is a measuring stick and stuff,” Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis told reporters in New Jersey about facing the Devils. “We’re measuring ourselves against our standards and I thought we played with some pretty high standards today. Saying that, it doesn’t guarantee a victory, it doesn’t mean it’s perfect, but I thought our intentions were there, we were organized in our five-on-five play. It was a good game. I thought we stayed patient. It’s unfortunate we don’t get the two points, but a lot of positives.”
As the youngest team in the NHL, the Canadiens remain in first place in the Atlantic Division after going 4-8-2 in their first 14 games last season. A big reason the Canadiens are in first place is the play of Dobes.
“He’s been great so far,” defenceman Noah Dobson told reporters in New Jersey. “He’s still a young goalie, second year in the league. Actually, first full year. So he’s been unbelievable. The work he puts in every day in practice and the games show us how good he is. He’s just been great so far.”
Kapanen’s goal was his fifth of the season, tying him for the lead among NHL rookies. Last season, Kapanen had no goals in 18 games with the Canadiens before being returned to Timra IK in the Swedish Hockey League. Kapanen and fellow rookie Dobes are close friends.
“It just shows his character and his personality every day and that’s great,” Kapanen told reporters in New Jersey about Dobes shedding tears after the game. “That’s what he is. We didn’t lose because of him. It’s just a couple of bounces we want to take back.”
The Devils have now won five consecutive games against the Canadiens and haven’t lost to them since Jan. 17, 2024.
Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki saw his 12-game point streak come to an end, while Lane Hutson’s seven-game point streak also ended. Suzuki leads the Canadiens in scoring with 3-16-19 totals, while Hutson has 1-12-13 totals.
The Canadiens will be back in action Saturday when the Utah Mammoth visits the Bell Centre (7 p.m., Citytv, SNE, TVA Sports).
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