Jacob Fowler stopped all 46 shots he faced Tuesday night and the Montreal Canadiens beat the St. Louis Blues 2-0 at Enterprise Center. Minutes after his heroic performance in net, a clip from the Canadiens’ own 2023 draft documentary resurfaced, showing two Habs front office members going at it over the goalie Montreal took 69th overall.
Billy Ryan, the club’s director of player evaluation and amateur scout, wanted to draft Jacob Fowler. Vincent Riendeau, a former NHL goalie working as the team’s pro scout for Russia and goaltenders, preferred a netminder the documentary never names.
“If you want to win, I’d take the winning goalie,” Ryan says in the video. “If you want to hope that the tools all come together, you can take the guys with better tools. … Fowler shows up every time and wins.”
Riendeau’s doubt was about projection, per TVA Sports’ account of the exchange: he questioned whether Fowler’s game would hold up against players 24 and 25 years old. Ryan’s answer was blunt.
“We’re all working on the same goal,” Ryan says. “We’re trying to win a Stanley Cup and I’d want the kid who wins the most. … I just think we’re going to regret not taking this kid.”
It was his second shutout of the season and third in 24 career starts. Fowler is 6-1-0 with a 1.54 goals-against average and a .942 save percentage, a run that began with an AHL call-up after Sam Montembeault was hurt in practice.
Jacob Fowler credits Canadiens defencemen who let 46 shots past them – “They let me see the shots”
Jacob Fowler’s 46 saves are the third-most in a shutout by a Montreal Canadiens goalie, behind Jacques Plante’s 52 in 1955 and Montembeault’s 48 in 2024, and a franchise rookie record, topping Cayden Primeau and Tony Esposito at 41. He has won six straight, joining Rogie Vachon and Carey Price as the only Canadiens goalies 21 or younger to do it, per Sportsnet Stats. Montreal is 7-3-2 with points in five straight.
“Usually you’re going to score when that happens, and we should have, but Fowler was too hard to beat tonight. Fowler, he was incredible tonight. Several spectacular second saves. I didn’t think we shot it in him. I thought he made the saves,” St. Louis Blues coach Jim Montgomery said.
Jacob Fowler, to his credit, spread the love, and credited the defense in front of him.
“I think we put a lot of emphasis on the D to having good boxouts and I thought they were terrific tonight,” he said. “They let me see the shots. … I got lucky tonight.”
For now the net belongs to Fowler, and Ryan’s argument in a pre-draft Habs meeting room looks less like a scout talking up his guy and more like one of the best calls the organization has ever made.
Edited by Srihari Anand
