One of the reasons that the Montreal Canadiens were able to eliminate the Tampa Bay Lightning was because of rookie goalie Jakub Dobes. It was an impressive performance over the entire seven-game series, but especially the final three games, where he allowed only 4 goals in that stretch.
If the Buffalo Sabres hope to continue their playoff run, they are going to need to solve Dobes and figure out how to get pucks past him. During the season, they didn't have much luck as the Canadiens' goalie was 2-0-0, allowing only four goals and had a save percentage of .943.
However, there are a few areas where Dobes isn't as strong, and the Sabres are going to need to capitalize on those moments to advance.
Buffalo Sabres need to generate high-danger scoring chances against Jakub Dobes
While Dobes helped the Canadiens win his two meetings against the Sabres this season, the Sabres had some success against Dobes, particularly right in front of the net. In Dobes' 42 regular-season starts, he had five games where teams had 13 or more high-danger chances, and the Sabres accounted for two of them.
In their meeting back in October, the Sabres would score two high-danger goals and generate 15 high-danger shots. The other meeting, back at the end of January, the Sabres had one high-danger goal but continued to put pressure on Dobes in that area by putting 14 high-danger shots on net.
In the series against the Lightning, Dobes faced 43 shots on goal in high-danger situations and allowed seven goals for a save percentage of .833%. This is the second-lowest save percentage in this part of the ice for the goalies still left in the playoffs, according to Natural Stat Trick.
In the series against the Bruins, the Sabres did a good job of generating these high-danger scoring chances and currently are averaging the most on a per game basis at 13.16.
The Sabres are going to want to create scoring chances, but not all scoring chances are the same. If they want to rattle Jakub Dobes in this series, it is going to be important to get pucks to the front of the net for high-danger chances and try to capitalize on what has been a weakness of Dobes this season.
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