Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jacob Fowler lost his shutout bid less than a minute into the third period as Bryan Rust pulled the Pittsburgh Penguins to within two goals. It doesn’t matter. Forward Oliver Kapanen scored the go-ahead goal 15 seconds later to nip an eventual Pens comeback in the bud, securing an eventual 4–2 win for the visiting Habs on Thursday night, giving Fowler the win in his NHL debut.
Summary of the game
Fowler’s play was incredibly impressive as he made 33 saves on 35 shots, suggesting it was a much more flawed performance on the part of the Canadiens as a whole. Fresh off a number of embarrassing defeats, they will certainly take this one, hopefully as a stepping stone to overall improvement.
Related: Projected lineups for Canadiens vs Penguins – 12/11/25
An example: you shouldn’t give up the six-man advantages over the best powerplay unit in the league and expect to concede just one goal, which Erik Karlsson scored in the final minutes of the match, with goalkeeper Tristan Jarry bringing in the extra attacker to make it six on four. You shouldn’t give up six power plays in general, let alone to the Penguins (32.4%).
The point is that Fowler, the team’s top prospect, was the difference. Perhaps better said, a confident goaltender can make a difference for the Canadiens, whose goaltending woes are well documented. He seemed calm under pressure and even made big saves, like his back-to-back stops on Karlsson and Ben Kindel on a power play in the second period, that seemed relatively routine.
In contrast, Jarry seemed to struggle with the puck all night. In all, he made 25 saves, but it was the saves he didn’t make, namely on Cole Caufield’s 3-0 mark midway through the second, which the Canadiens forward put on net from behind the goal line, that tended to break the Penguins’ backs. Jarry didn’t make it either big saves Fowler made, such as when Alexandre Texier took advantage of a Kris Letang giveaway in the offensive zone to score an unassisted goal and open the scoring with his first in a Habs uniform, then signing last month.
In many ways it was a game of firsts. Forward Owen Beck, who was too recalled from the Laval Rocket alongside Fowler (and defenseman Adam Engstrom) almost joined the party when he appeared to score his first-ever NHL goal late in the second, which would have made it 4-0. However, the goal came back as the Penguins successfully challenged a non-offside decision, with Josh Anderson the guilty party, who probably owes Beck a beer.
You’d think it would be celebratory beers for the Canadiens everywhere, though. Now 16-11-3, they face the New York Rangers on the road Saturday. Meanwhile, the 14-8-7 Penguins host the San Jose Sharks on Saturday. A week later, the two teams meet again for the start of a home-and-home series in Montreal. It remains to be seen if Fowler will still be with the Habs, but based on his performance, you have to like his chances.
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