Habs one win away without Noah Dobson in the lineup
Noah Dobson was a coin flip for Game 6 tonight, with Martin St-Louis facing a closeout night against Tampa Bay and no clean answer on his $9.5M defenseman.
Pierre LeBrun reported on TSN690 Friday afternoon that Dobson sits at 50-50 to dress, leaving the Canadiens staff guessing right up to puck drop.
The Habs lead the series 3-2. A win at the Bell Centre tonight ends it. A loss sends everyone back to Florida.
Dobson is dealing with an upper-body issue listed as day-to-day. That's all the team is saying.
And the timing could not be tighter. This is a Game 6 at home with a chance to bury a desperate Lightning team that has won two Cups under Jon Cooper and knows exactly how to push a series to seven.
St-Louis facing a real Game 6 dilemma on the right side
If Dobson can't go, the right side gets thin fast. Alexandre Carrier moves up, but the Habs already won three games without him.
It would be a wonderful news if he could join the teams tonight. His rehab is getting better and better.
Lane Hutson finished the year with 78 points in 82 games and has been the engine. He plays great on the right side, but Mike Matheson misses the right-handed defenseman.
Tampa went 50-26-6 in the regular season. They scored 290 goals. They're not the team you want to give a Game 7 lifeline to if you can avoid it.
The Canadiens are 24-15-2 at home this year. The building will be a wreck of nerves at puck drop. Every shift on the back end matters.
Does St-Louis dress a banged-up Dobson and hope he can get through 18 minutes? Or trust the kids and ride Hutson into the ground?
Whatever he picks, we'll know in a few hours. And if it goes sideways, this is the call that gets dissected for weeks.
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Update : Noah Dobson won't be in the lineup tonight, but if this series goes to 7 games, he could probably suit up.
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LIVE
MAY 1, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Tage Thompson | - | 2 | 2 | |
| David Pastrnak | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mattias Samuelsson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alex Tuch | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Dahlin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Peyton Krebs | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Hampus Lindholm | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Pavel Zacha | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Jonathan Aspirot | - | - | - | |
| Zach Benson | - | - | - | |
| Oliver Bjorkstrand | - | - | - | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | - | - | |
| Bowen Byram | - | - | - | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | - | - | |
| Cole Caufield | - | - | - | |
| Erik Cernak | - | - | - | |
| Anthony Cirelli | - | - | - | |
| Charles-Edouard D'Astous | - | - | - | |
| Kirby Dach | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||