Admit it, you were scared for a minute there.
If not when the Montreal Canadiens allowed two goals in less than a minute to turn a 3-0 lead into sudden hope for the Toronto Maple Leafs, then certainly as the game was winding down while both Alex Newhook and Kirby Dach were defending a Leafs six-on-four advantage without sticks in their hands.
But this week didn’t end how it started for the Canadiens, much to Jacob Fowler’s delight.
He was the one guy who didn’t get first crack at redemption against the Utah Mammoth Thursday, two nights after the Canadiens allowed the Winnipeg Jets to make NHL history by completing the latest four-goal comeback ever in a game—in the final 2:39 of regulation—before allowing them to win it with 1:30 to go in overtime. Fowler made 36 saves before five Jets shots found the back of his net, and then he had to sit with that awful feeling until the start of Saturday’s game in Toronto.
To think it might be coming back up towards the end of the night, like a bad case of acid reflux, as momentum quickly shifted the Leafs’ way…
But no, the 21-year-old swallowed hard and reset himself—and the Canadiens.
After they won 4-2, Newhook, who scored the first two goals, confirmed to Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas that Fowler came over to the bench and reassured the team.
“It was good to see,” Newhook said. “He’s got a good presence back there. He’s got a calming presence for sure. For a young guy to be able to step up like that and come to the bench, he’s not panicking and we know he’s gonna be on it behind us, so it’s good. I liked hearing it.”
Seeing it on Hall of Fame weekend, with freshly enshrined Canadiens legend Carey Price looking on, added weight to Fowler’s performance.
This was already a heavy situation. It was the kid’s first-ever game against the Leafs, under the nation’s watchful eyes on hockey’s holy night—Saturday—and he had to play it coming off what must’ve felt like an eternal break following that historically devastating loss.
But in front of Price, Fowler immediately showed that was behind him, and he was ready.
“I think the first period Fowls made some massive saves that kept the score 2-0,” Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki told reporters in the visitors' room at Scotiabank Arena. “Could’ve been different.”
Of the nine saves Fowler made over those opening 20 minutes, none were better than the one in tight on Auston Matthews, who scored 12 goals on Price over the 16 games they squared off against each other.
And Fowler robbed Matthews again in the third period right before William Nylander scored the goal that came on a power play Toronto was gifted when Arber Xhekaj was curiously called for unsportsmanlike conduct and sent to the box on his own despite several retaliatory actions from the Leafs.
Martin St. Louis debated it in real time, and once again in his post-game scrum, when he said, “I just don’t think that’s a penalty.”
But Montreal’s coach was happy with how his team responded afterwards, with Fowler settling them down and Zach Bolduc scoring the power-play goal that put them back up by two goals with 5:45 to go.
Fowler came up with three more saves from that point on, the last of which came on Jack Roslovic while the Leafs essentially had a six-on-two advantage, thanks to Newhook and Dach being stick-less.
Fowler’s 26 saves brought him to 8-1-1 on his season, with a Price-like 2.15 goals-against average and .925 save percentage.
Of his first experience in Toronto, he said, “It’s cool; obviously get to see a bunch of cool things, you get to honour Carey Price—one of the greatest goalies to ever play the game.”
It was Price who, during a podcast appearance last spring, said Fowler reminds him of his younger self.
He’s been in touch with Fowler ever since, checking in with him here and there via text and undoubtedly encouraging him to just be himself.
When asked by Bukauskas what that’s meant to him, Fowler said, “It means the world.”
“It’s so surreal now,” he continued. “I still feel like a little kid now every time I get to put on the gear. It’s so special to play here and in this organization. And the greats that have come before him, and now before me, it’s so special to even have my name in the same sentence. It’s pretty cool to be a Hall of Famer, and that’s just part of the dream right now. Every time he texts me, it’s pretty cool, and we got the win for him tonight.”
For a second there, it looked like it might slip away, with déjà vu creeping in.
If you weren’t taking a torch to your recently purchased hometown remix jersey right then and there, you were showing great restraint.
Fowler just showed the calm and poise of a guy who played over 800 games in this league (regular season and post-season combined) and won more than any other goaltender in Canadiens history.
But this was just Fowler's 27th NHL game, and how he handled it—especially after his last one—said everything you need to know about him.
3:39
1:19
