(MTL @ PIT) Fowler Gets The Win In His First Career Start

Depth scoring and good goaltending leads the Habs to a win in Pittsburgh.

After an abysmal 6-1 slaughtering at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning, which saw suspect defending and goaltending, the Montreal Canadiens decided to shake things up. They called up three Laval players, those being Beck, Engstrom, and Fowler.

All three got into action against the Penguins Thursday night. However, all eyes were on Jacob Fowler, making his first start ever in the NHL. With unbelievable stats in the minors, many see him as the Habs' future goaltender. Montreal probably didn't want to call him up, but non-existent goaltending from Monty and Dobes has forced them to.

Fowler was brilliant tonight, helping lead the Habs to a 4-2 win.

1st Period:

Montreal actually played a great first period. They played almost the whole period in the Penguins' end.

After a forced turnover by Beck on Letang, Texier got the puck just outside the slot and ripped it top corner. 1-0 Habs.

The rest of the period was well played. Despite a Penguins' power play, they really gave them nothing. They limited them to only 4 shots. Fowler made the saves, and they were up 1-0 after one period.

2nd Period:

After a couple of good saves by Fowler, Slaf came up the ice with Hutson and Gallagher (odd combo). He passed it to Huston, who stopped on a dime at the blue line, passing it to Gallagher. He went top corner to make it 2-0. Finally, some offence from our bottom six.

After a big kill on a Penguins powerplay, the Habs got their own themselves. They were much better on this one than the powerplay in the first, capitalising on it. Caufield got him behind the goalline, and banked it in off Jarry to make it 3-0 Habs. Montreal's powerplay is very good on the road.

They scored again, but it got overturned. Beck beat Jarry from far out to make it 4-0, but Anderson stupidly went offside for no reason at the blueline, and it got called back.

They gave up a couple odd man rushes, which shouldn't really happen when you're up three... but Fowler made the saves (plus they hit a post).

3-0 Habs after two periods.

3rd Period:

The Penguins scored early in the third to make it a 3-1 game after bad defence from Montreal.

Luckily, the second line got the goal right back. Demidov passed it to Slaf, who drove to the left side of the net and passed it to Kapanen, who put it in a wide-open net. A great play by Slaf, 4-1 Habs.

After that, Montreal started to shell and took some penalties. Fortunately, we had a decent goalie who made some big saves.

On the third powerplay of the period, the Penguins pulled their goalie and scored to make it 4-2.

They almost made it 4-3, but Hutson saved a sure goal by blocking a wide-open net. They held on, albeit they were scrambling at the end of the game.

4-2 Habs win.

Thoughts:

A much needed win. We had to bounce back and beat the Penguins, who are a good team themselves.

See what depth scoring and good goaltending does for you? We haven't had that all year, and we got in tonight. Two goals from the bottom six, and a .900 plus save percentage.

They played great for the first half of the game, giving the Penguins almost nothing and taking a 3-0 lead. Then they kind of collapsed in the second half and gave up a lot of prime scoring chances. They're going to have to clean that up sooner or later.

Hab of the Night: Jacob Fowler.

Obviously. He made 36 saves on 38 shots. First win of many for him.

He covered up a lot of defensive breakdowns, which good goalies do. He looks calm and composed.

Hutson also deserves a shoutout. 2 assists, and he saved a goal. He was phenomenal.

Next Up: @ Rangers

Fowler better start. It would be nice to win that game before they play Edmonton the next day, where Dobes should subsequently start. Should be a low-scoring game; New York has good goaltending themselves.

Article by Jacksen MacLean.