Without Nick Suzuki and Ivan Demidov, two forwards from the top-six, the Montreal Canadiens have done well so far. They’d prefer to have their stars, but learning how to win without them has its value as well.
The Canadiens looked to continue success in St. Louis against the Blues, and they did thanks to Jacob Fowler. He stopped 46 shots in a 2-0 shutout.
Wilde Horses
It was a third straight start for Jacob Fowler, and you could hardly blame Head Coach Martin St. Louis for making the same choice again. Fowler started the night fourth in the league in Goals Saved Above Expected while Jakub Dobes is 68th of 70 goals in the league.
Dobes will get a chance to figure out what ails him eventually, but, at the moment, the Canadiens need wins, and they know with key injuries on offence, they need to be at their very best on defence.
Fowler is the choice to give them the best chance. He stopped 34 of 35 shots in a masterful performance in Winnipeg. He was awarded the third star for the week in the league on Monday, then on Tuesday, he was even better.
Fowler was showing off his technical skills again. They are the cornerstone of his success. On one occasion, a rebound came so quickly, and from such a vastly different angle than the first shot that it seemed like a sure goal, but Fowler was perfectly in position and standing tall to make the difficult rebound look easy.
In the third period, there was a scramble situation that produced four shots. The puck went left. It went right. It kept landing on Blues’ sticks, and despite all of that pressure Fowler was in perfect position to stop the next shot every shot.
Get daily National news
Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you’ll never miss the day’s top stories.
Fowler with another outstanding GSAE to show he is among the elite in the NHL right now. Fowler with a 3.8 GSAE in St. Louis. He now has a 9.9 for the season. He passes Jake Oettinger at 9.4 to lead the entire league.
Fowler stopped the first 20 shots he faced by the halfway mark of the game as the Blues dominated the game, but couldn’t find any solution for the rookie goalie. Fowler stopped 46 shots for the shutout as the Blues took over the game looking for a goal. His save percentage on the season is .942.
The Canadiens opened the scoring on a Zachary Bolduc shot to the top corner. Bolduc came from the St. Louis organization, so he was pleased to show his former mates his fifth goal of the season.
However, it was the second goal that excited the Canadiens players. Florian Xhekaj was doing exactly what the game requires of him to find success in the league. He was immovable in front of the net. He fronted his defender for the deflection, and that’s exactly what he did. He tipped it on the Mike Matheson shot for his first NHL goal.
Wilde Goats
With the injuries to Suzuki and Demidov, the first power play unit is woeful. Noah Dobson and Oliver Kapanen are on the first unit. They are not the good choices as players who can handle pressure coming at them, then hold on to the puck successfully.
The Canadiens have the 28th ranked power play in the league. It won’t be getting any better until they put some more ‘hands’ players on the ice. Alexandre Texier is a perfect example of an underused player on the power play.
Texier has a strong shot, and he doesn’t panic when pressured to hold on to the puck. Other than Texier, there are no other real viable options for the power play, until the top players come back.
Mike Matheson has earned a look back on the first power play unit. It’s either that, or go only with one defender on the power play in Hutson, and have Alex Newhook on the first unit. The first unit doesn’t have a puck carrier to bring it into the zone successfully.
The Canadiens will have to win games five-on-five. This isn’t going to get better on offence until two of their top-six return.
Wilde Cards
The minor-league system of the Canadiens is thinner than it has been since the rebuild started four years ago, yet they continue to have great success in Laval early this season.
The Rocket are in first place in the North Division with an impressive seven wins in nine games. They are benefiting from tight hockey, a good system, and some surprising individual performances that perhaps they weren’t expecting.
At the head of the class is Luke Middlestadt. This rookie is not only leading the Rocket in scoring as a defender, he’s leading the entire American Hockey League in scoring with 15 points in nine games. Middlestadt is an absolute revelation at the pro level.
Career minor leaguer Reilly Walsh is second on the team in scoring, and another surprise Sasha Pastujov leads the team in goals with six.
It’s bizarre because big names last year like Alex Belzile and Jared Davidson aren’t even off to strong starts this season. Davidson is still looking for his first goal. A lot was expected from Tyler Thorpe as well, and he, too, has not scored.
Owen Beck is up with the big team because of injuries. David Reinbacher has been back and forth between Laval and Montreal. Bryce Pickford hasn’t even played yet because of injury, but could return inside of two weeks. Jacob Fowler is also gone.
The Rocket are the class of the north, yet they potentially can be quite a lot better than this.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sportswriter, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.