The Montreal Canadiens will look to sweep the season series against the Penguins on Sunday when the teams complete a home-and-home set in Pittsburgh.
Josh Anderson scored two goals and Jacob Fowler made 31 saves for his first career shutout as the Canadiens blanked the Penguins 4-0 on Saturday night in Montreal.
Owen Beck added his first career goal and Juraj Slafkovsky also scored for the Canadiens, who are 4-1-1 in their past six games.
Fowler, Montreal’s third-round selection at the 2023 NHL Draft, is 2-1-1 in four starts this season.
“It’s cool, it’s another puck to give to my dad and let him put in the trophy case,” Fowler said of the shutout. “I was just grateful for the effort in front of me. They made my job pretty easy tonight to see pucks and be under control, and I think we’ve been good the last few games, and I just need to make a couple more saves like tonight.”
Saturday was the Florida native’s second win of the season against the Penguins. He made 36 saves in his NHL debut, a 4-2 victory over Pittsburgh on Dec. 11.
At 21 years and 26 days, Fowler is the youngest Canadiens goaltender to record a shutout since Carey Price (20 years, 229 days).
“The way he carries himself, it seems like he’s been ready for it for a long time,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said.
Jakub Dobes, Sunday’s likely starter, is 12-5-2 with a 2.91 goals-against average and an .893 save percentage in 19 games this season.
Stuart Skinner made 17 saves in his second start for Pittsburgh since being acquired from Edmonton on Dec. 12. The Penguins have dropped three straight in regulation and are winless in eight overall (0-4-4).
“The guys played really hard in front of me, a lot of big blocked shots tonight,” Skinner said. “And you saw as the second period and third period went on, we were taking over the game. I really like how we responded, especially being down going into the third. How the guys came out was impressive.”
Superstar captain Sidney Crosby enters Sunday’s game one point shy of tying Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux (1,723) for the Penguins’ all-time scoring record.
Crosby briefly left Saturday’s game for repairs after being struck with a high stick from teammate Brett Kulak in the second period.
Saturday marked the second straight 4-0 loss for the Penguins. Pittsburgh was blanked by the Ottawa Senators on Thursday.
“It’s not easy on anybody,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said. “But we got to turn the page. I know I always say the same thing, but that’s the reality of it. If we start feeling bad for ourselves, we put our heads down, like, we got another hockey game here (Sunday) night.”
Goaltender Arturs Silovs, who is expected to start Sunday, is 4-5-6 in 15 starts with a 3.26 GAA and an .890 save percentage this season.
–Field Level Media
