OTTAWA – Martin St. Louis might have robust choices forward.
The Montreal Canadiens coach raised eyebrows when he introduced Jacob Fowler would begin Wednesday in opposition to the Ottawa Senators.
The 21-year-old was instrumental, nevertheless, in Montreal’s 3-2 victory with 32 saves.
After his recall from the American Hockey League’s Laval Rocket, Fowler was in Ottawa forward of his teammates Tuesday whereas Jakub Dobes made 17 saves in Montreal’s 3-1 win over the Maple Leafs in Montreal.
Samuel Montembeault was Dobes’ backup on the Bell Centre, however the Canadiens nonetheless opted to recall Fowler.
He’d performed his first 10 NHL video games earlier this season. Fowler from Melbourne, Fla., went 4-4-2 with a .903 save proportion and a 2.62 goals-against common in that stretch. His earlier look was Jan. 15 in opposition to the Buffalo Sabres.
With the Canadiens (36-18-10) trying to firmly lock down a playoff spot, it’s clear St. Louis was prepared to go together with whoever he felt supplies his crew with the perfect likelihood to win.
He was impressed by his younger goaltender’s composure in a sport that had playoff depth. The Senators (32-23-9) are on the surface of the playoffs and preventing to achieve floor.
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“I assumed he battled,” mentioned St. Louis. “He made some big saves for us. It’s such a sport of inches by way of successful and dropping and it normally comes all the way down to your goaltender and I assumed he did that …this sport might have gone both approach and I believe Fowler did the job.”
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Teammates have been fast to acknowledge their younger goaltender’s efficiency.
“We all know what he’s able to, however I imply a few of these saves he made late within the sport there’s a large motive why we gained the sport,” mentioned Alex Newhook. “Numerous credit score to him. Nice to see.”
Fowler wasn’t as nervous as he was in his debut Dec. 11, when he had 33 saves in a 4-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“The primary expertise had me a little bit bit extra prepared for this,” mentioned Fowler. “Earlier than (it) was a little bit bit extra new stuff. Right here, I used to be simply sort of rejoining a crew I felt I used to be part of and super-happy to be part of this crew and nice win for our group.”
Fowler lauded his teammates’ efforts within the ultimate three minutes Wednesday when Ottawa pressed arduous for an equalizer.
Fowler made various key saves, however Alexandre Service and Phillip Danault additionally blocked pictures by from Fabian Zetterlund and Tim Stutzle to safe the win.
“It was fairly hectic,” recalled Fowler. “Couple performs there that our guys on the ice have been fairly gassed and quite a lot of big blocks there down the stretch. You realize the previous couple of minutes, there have been quite a lot of guys doing quite a lot of arduous issues to get a win, and that’s what it takes this time of yr.”
With 18 video games remaining of their common season, the Canadiens are targeted on positioning themselves for a playoff run.
The win over the Senators ranked the Canadiens third within the Atlantic Division, with a three-point lead on the Detroit Pink Wings and 4 on Boston, who maintain the 2 wild playing cards.
‘You may’t purchase that have the place we’re within the season in opposition to that crew,” mentioned St. Louis. “Fairly good rivalry for us, on the street. You may’t purchase that. So, for me, I believe excessive marks the best way (Fowler) performed.”
With back-to-back video games in opposition to San Jose and Anaheim this weekend, the coach’s choices round his beginning goaltender might be attention-grabbing.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed March 12, 2026
Notice to readers:This can be a corrected story. A earlier model had Montreal taking part in the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Tuesday. The truth is, the sport was in Montreal.
© 2026 The Canadian Press