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Dec 11, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Montreal Canadiens goalie Jacob Fowler before his debut against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena. | Credit: Philip G. Pavely-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a delay to allow people to get to the rink. Jacob Fowler\u2019s NHL debut will wait another 30 minutes.<\/p>\n
First period<\/p>\n
Owen Beck puts enough pressure on Kris Letang at the end of a long shift for the veteran defenceman to create a turnover. Alexandre Texier collects the puck and fires it off the far-side elbow of the net and in to open the scoring. Beck won\u2019t get a point on the play, but it doesn\u2019t happen without him.<\/p>\n
Sidney Crosby tries to tip the puck in in front of the net, but the puck hits him in the instep and he goes down for several seconds. Such a thing would never happen to him if he played in Montreal.<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh was setting up for a breakaway, but a strong backcheck from Ivan Demidov prevented them from even getting a shot. Fowler hasn\u2019t seen any through nine minutes of play.<\/p>\n
Alexandre Carrier sees another odd-man situation developing and hops on the back of Justin Brazeau to prevent it. <\/p>\n
Fowler makes his first stop after following the puck movement to stop a cross-crease pass. That probably would have been a goal on Samuel Montembeault given his struggles with puck-tracking.<\/p>\n
Mike Matheson hops around Carrier as he exits the box for a two-on-one with his fellow defenceman. Matheson keeps the puck (the right decision) and tries to go high short-side, but Tristan Jarry makes the save.<\/p>\n
Demidov crashes hard into the boards while travelling at speed, and is slow to get up. Those are always hard on shoulders.<\/p>\n
Crosby sets up a point-blank chance for Rutger McGroarty, but Fowler makes a calm save. It\u2019s the same story of few opposition chances but great ones. Fortunately, there\u2019s a composed player in the crease tonight.<\/p>\n
Brazeau is off for holding Jayden Struble, so the Habs will have a chance to double the lead.<\/p>\n
Well extending the lead would have required a shot, and Montreal didn\u2019t come close to setting up for one.<\/p>\n
Crosby tries to find a hole in Fowler\u2019s defence, but can only hit the outside of the net.<\/p>\n
Brendan Gallagher wins a race to the puck and gets in tight for a chance. We haven\u2019t seen that all season.<\/p>\n
Demidov is back on the ice and stick-handling around people, so his shoulder seems to be fine.<\/p>\n
Caufield and Suzuki create four more chances on the final shift.<\/p>\n
Limiting the Penguins to four shots was a great period with a goalie playing his first game, even if Fowler did have to make a couple of big saves on some breakdowns. A good period that saw them put nine shots on net despite one wasted power play.<\/p>\n
Second period<\/p>\n
Parker Wotherspoon gets in Crosby\u2019s way as he tries to skate to the bench after Jarry makes a save and gets in a few jabs on the Habs captain.<\/p>\n
Montreal had the puck but couldn\u2019t get it out. Fowler calmly settles the situation with a save and smother of the short rebound.<\/p>\n
Fowler makes a save through traffic off his toe and the puck bounces past all the Penguins\u2019 forwards to Juraj Slafkovsk\u00fd he hands it off to Lane Hutson for the zone entry, Hutson stops up to get it across from Brendan Gallagher, and Gallagher fires the puck to the top corner for a 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n
Lane Hutson stops up, finds Brendan Gallagher, and he goes cookie jar to make it 2-0.<\/p>\n
[image or embed]<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social<\/a>) December 11, 2025 at 9:42 PM<\/a><\/p>\n Dobson lets his man get behind him below the circles and has to slash him to prevent a shot. <\/p>\n Fowler looked calm versus the league\u2019s top power play (which is minus Evgeni Malkin), including on a bank attempt off him from behind the goal line.<\/p>\n Tipped puck in the slot? No issue for Fowler.<\/p>\n Beck wins a defensive-zone faceoff and Ville Koivunen has to trip up Adam Engstr\u00f6m to prevent a break. Good work from both rookies.<\/p>\n The second power play looks much better than the first one. They get set up and move it around, before Caufield decides it\u2019s time for a shot. He takes it from the goal line, surprising Jarry and putting Montreal up by three.<\/p>\n Cole Caufield catches Jarry puck watching and banks one in off his skate. 3-0 #Habs<\/p>\n [image or embed]<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social<\/a>) December 11, 2025 at 9:55 PM<\/a><\/p>\n Jared Davidson heads to the box for pulling on Crosby\u2019s shoulder in the neutral zone. A less-good play for that rookie, but maybe it will turn out to be the right move.<\/p>\n Fowler just made back-to-back great saves on shots from close range as the penalty-kill box didn\u2019t stop a slot chance. Still better than the diamond.<\/p>\n That was a dangerous power play for Pittsburgh. It will get them back in this game if the Habs don\u2019t stay out of the penalty box.<\/p>\n The video review officials call in trying to spoil Fowler\u2019s debut, but the replay shows that he sealed the post on one of the saves and didn\u2019t cross the goal line. As if he\u2019d allow that to happen.<\/p>\n Struble lands a hit on Noel Acciari, who kicks out like a mule and catches him with the skate boot in a sensitive region. Talk about a bag skate.<\/p>\n For some reason Montreal is overextending for a fourth goal, and it leads to a three-on-one against. Engstr\u00f6m is the one back and makes an exceptional play to break it up and turn the puck back up the ice.<\/p>\n Beck does add the fourth goal, beating Jarry on what should have been a save, but was instead Beck\u2019s first NHL goal.<\/p>\n Or was it? The Penguins are challenging to see if Anderson was offside on the entry. It took a while but they were successful.<\/p>\n Beck will have to wait for his first. An unlucky night for him as he has a rescinded goal and a non-assist.<\/p>\n Struble makes a poor pass across the blue line, but defence partner Engstr\u00f6m is speedy enough to deny the counter.<\/p>\n McGroarty fires a puck off the post on a breakaway. Way too many odd-man chances being given up right now.<\/p>\n Montreal played decently well in that period until the got the lead and started doing silly things. The defencemen need to be a little more conservative when they join the attack in the third. Dealing with the two or three power plays the Penguins will get as the trailing team will be tough enough.<\/p>\n Third period<\/p>\n RDS shows Fowler\u2019s mother taking a deep breath before the start of the period. He\u2019s a lot calmer than she is.<\/p>\n Montreal treats the opening shift like a penalty kill. The Penguins take advantage and spoil Fowler\u2019s shutout bid with a goal from Bryan Rust.<\/p>\n The Habs get it right back though. Slafkovsk\u00fd begins the breakout, then collects the puck back for the zone entry. He draws two defenders on his way to the net before passing across to an open Oliver Kapanen for the 4-1 goal.<\/p>\n Juraj Slafkovsky with some great patience, gifts a goal to Oliver Kapanen. 4-1 #Habs<\/p>\n [image or embed]<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social<\/a>) December 11, 2025 at 10:40 PM<\/a><\/p>\n Remember when Matheson used to refuse to pass to Slafkovsk\u00fd because the Slovak had difficulty making a play with the puck? That well in the past.<\/p>\n Montreal is heading to the power play. A chance to make it a four-goal lead, or at least drain two more minutes off the clock.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh gets its first power play of the third on a hook from Demidov. A little too aggressive after losing the handle on the puck in the offensive zone.<\/p>\n Anderson blocks two shots on the power play.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh gets its second power play when Carrier tries to prevent Ben Kindel from getting to the crease and cross-checks him in the face. They might get more than three at this rate.<\/p>\n Demidov is on the ice killing this penalty. He applied good pressure at the blue line. I think he can become a dangerous PK player over his career.<\/p>\n Engstr\u00f6m absorbs a hit on the boards, spins to the middle, and moves the puck out of his zone. He\u2019s pretty good.<\/p>\n Suzuki glides down the ice with Bolduc in a foot race for the puck. Bolduc is able to get the puck over, and Suzuki tries from flatfooted dekes but can\u2019t make them work.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh\u2019s third power play comes on what looked like perfectly acceptable defence from Engstr\u00f6m trying to keep his man to the outside. Would that be a penalty in a one-goal game. No chance.<\/p>\n The Canadiens have gone back to a diamond for the four-on-six with Jarry out, and it is now 4-2 on a point shot from Erik Karlsson that went through the screen set up by Matheson.<\/p>\n We\u2019re now in mad scramble mode with two minutes to play,<\/p>\n Fowler reaches out and casually grabs a Crosby shot through another screen from his own defenceman.<\/p>\n Hutson makes a glove save with Fowler fooled by some quick puck movement. He might have saved the game there.<\/p>\n The Penguins take a penalty with 19 seconds to go, and that should seal it.<\/p>\n A needed win. Not a perfect one with how they played after going up three, but keeping Pittsburgh at two goals was a commendable effort.<\/p>\n Now for a shot trip to New York City. Does Fowler start again on Saturday?<\/p>\n EOTP 3 Stars<\/p>\n 3) Maybe the position isn\u2019t as complicated as it has looked recently<\/p>\n 2) Sometimes the game shows up late to you<\/p>\n 1) A composed start to a long career<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-11-at-23-04-13-Canadiens-@-Penguins-Game-thread-and-lines.png\")
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