- Jacob Fowler won his seventh straight start as the Canadiens beat the Penguins 5-4
- The 21-year-old rookie has stopped 190 of 202 shots during the win streak
- Read below for Josh Anderson’s two goals and how Montreal got to five straight wins
Jacob Fowler has won seven straight starts for the Canadiens.
The 21-year-old rookie made 25 saves in Saturday’s 5-4 win over the Penguins at the Bell Centre, which pushed Montreal’s win streak to five games. Fowler is the third Canadiens rookie goalie in the past 40 years to win seven in a row, joining Carey Price in 2007-08 and Jakub Dobes last season.
Take a look at our graphic on the run:
The streak started with his 30-save shutout of Detroit on Oct. 10. Since then he has stopped 190 of 202 shots, good for a .941 save percentage. That run includes a career-high 46 saves in St. Louis four days ago and the Heritage Classic win over Winnipeg, where he became the youngest goalie to start and win an outdoor game.
Saturday was not his cleanest night. The four goals he allowed were the most of the seven-game run, and Montreal needed some help in front of him at the end.
Josh Anderson provided most of it. He scored twice, with the second coming on a deflection that put Montreal up 5-3 with 6:54 left, and he added an assist. Anderson was asked about that second goal afterward and admitted he barely knew what happened.
“Honestly, I didn’t even know I got it,” Anderson said. “I told Lane it was his. I didn’t feel anything. I was kind of surprised.”
Anderson also blocked an Erik Karlsson shot with 50 seconds left, the first of three Canadiens blocks in the final minute. He called that one lucky.
Pittsburgh made it interesting. Sidney Crosby scored on the power play with 3:11 remaining to cut it to 5-4, and earlier in the night he had passed Ray Bourque for the most assists with one franchise. Watch the play that did it:
Chris Kreider had a goal and an assist for Montreal. He was asked about the goaltending after the game and pointed to Fowler first.
“Fantastic goaltending again,” Kreider said. “They had their pushes and he came up with some big saves, and we were able to get some big blocks too.”
Lane Hutson had two assists, and Oliver Kapanen and Alexandre Texier also scored for the Canadiens (9-3-2). They have a seven-game point streak (6-0-1) and just finished an unbeaten four-game trip through the West.
Montreal hosts Winnipeg on Tuesday, the same Jets team Fowler beat in the Heritage Classic.
