- Noah Dobson is in the lineup for the Canadiens’ Game 7 against the Lightning
- The defenseman hasn’t played since April 11 after a Werenski slapshot caught his hand
- Read below for the full update on his return and what it means for Montreal’s blue line
The Canadiens are getting Noah Dobson back for Game 7.
Head coach Martin St. Louis confirmed Sunday afternoon that Dobson would take pre-game warmups and serve as a game-time decision, per TSN’s Pierre LeBrun.
Dobson made it through that skate, felt good enough to go, and is officially in the lineup against Tampa Bay. He takes Arber Xhekaj’s spot on the back end.
This return has been three weeks in the making. Dobson hasn’t played since April 11, when his hand took the brunt of a Zach Werenski slapshot in Columbus. The 26-year-old missed the final two games of the regular season and all six contests of this first-round series before today.
He’s been on the ice for practice over the last week and reportedly handled pucks and shot without any visible issue, though sources say he’s still not all the way back to 100 percent. None of that mattered with the season on the line. He told the staff he was good to go, and St. Louis took him at his word.
That’s a real lift for a young Montreal group. Dobson averaged 22:29 of ice time during the regular season, third-most on the team, and ran the top pair with Mike Matheson for most of the year. Juraj Slafkovsky and Lane Hutson have carried plenty of weight through this series, but slotting a top-pair right-shot defenseman back in for a winner-take-all night reshapes Montreal’s entire blue line.
Montreal is back in this spot because Tampa pushed the series back the other way Friday, when Gage Goncalves’ overtime winner stole a 1-0 game at Bell Centre. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped all 30 shots in that one.
Now everything resets. Puck drop is Sunday night at Amalie Arena, and you can find the full preview over at NHL.com.
