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The Canadiens made one of their rare trips to St. Louis on Tuesday night, looking for a third consecutive win since losing captain Nick Suzuki to injury. The lineup featured a pair of surprises as Jacob Fowler got another start despite Jakub Dobes’ connection to the city, while Adam Engstrom took Arber Xhekaj’s place in the lineup despite Xhekaj playing some of his best hockey of the season. The Habs had the better start and controlled much of the first period, but the Blues steadily grabbed momentum and eventually spent much of the game dictating play. In the end, it didn’t matter thanks to Fowler, who delivered a brilliant 46-save shutout in a 2-0 Montreal victory. 

Habs Lineup

Cole Caufield — Oliver Kapanen — Juraj Slafkovsky
Chris Kreider — Alex Newhook – Josh Anderson
Zachary Bolduc – Phillip Danault – Alexandre Texier
Florian Xhekaj – Jake Evans — Kirby Dach

Lane Hutson – Noah Dobson
Kaiden Guhle — Mike Matheson
Adam Engstrom – Alexandre Carrier 

Jacob Fowler 

Game Points

– It was all Montreal for the first six minutes as every single line got into the action and did so with the puck on their stick as they buzzed around the Blues zone. Jordan Binnington had a strong start to the period, but the play was generally sloppy all period long. Binnington was the difference as the period ended scoreless. 

– Dalibor Dvorsky’s penalty six minutes into the period should have opened the door wide for the Habs, but a completely discombobulated power play took the momentum and flushed it right down the drain. They were able to regain control once even, but the Blues were shown a glimmer of hope and took advantage of that by the end of the period. 

– The second half of the period saw the Blues get more comfortable and start to move their feet. The Alex Newhook line really struggled, as did Lane Hutson who was strangely reckless with some puck management. Jacob Fowler made a few key stops, making them look routine, but the sloppy play continued at both ends. St. Louis just got a few more bounces in the second half and were able to turn that into a 9-8 shot advantage by the end of the period even if the chances and shot attempts told a much different story. 

– The Blues came out flying in the second period as they hemmed the Habs into their own zone whenever the teams were playing at even strength. Fortunately for the visitors, the Blues were determined to shoot themselves in the foot in the early parts of the period. After a rather dumb play by Jonatan Berggren where he closed his hand on the puck, a soft but undisciplined play by Robert Thomas gave the Canadiens two power plays in the first half of the period. 

– The first one was atrocious, and much like it did in the first period, it really gave the Blues more momentum than it helped Montreal. The second advantage played out much like the first one as the Habs were simply unorganized and got nowhere near Binnington’s crease. The second unit got some forecheck going in the final seconds of the sequence and Mike Matheson finally found Zach Bolduc way wide for a cross-ice pass that finally connected as Bolduc one-timed it to open the scoring despite the sharp angle and the fact that the penalty expired three seconds prior to the goal. 

– The Habs, specifically Chris Kreider, pissed off the official by trying to cheat himself off the ice after an icing. The result was that as soon as play resumed, Kaiden Guhle was called for two incredibly cheap penalties with a little over six minutes to play in the second. Honestly, the calls were soft, but the plays were also incredibly stupid by Guhle. The Blues advantage was about as impressive as Montreal’s and the entire end of the period looked more like a game of ping-pong than hockey as neither team appeared to really want to control play. Still, the Canadiens coughed up the shot clock as the Blues outshot them 13-9 in the period. 

– The first two minutes of the third period were not pretty for the Habs as St. Louis hit a post before they absolutely dominated but met a steaming hot Fowler. This was important as 2:17 into the period, Florian Xhekaj tipped a Matheson point shot. The tip itself was just under the crossbar so after review, the goal stood as the puck bounced off Binnington’s glove and into the net. Awesome play for Xhekaj as it was his first NHL goal! 

– One thing I really didn’t like throughout this game was the accidental on purpose bumps from the Blues on Fowler and the lack of response by the Habs. As the game moved along, I was left longing for a certain defenceman not in the lineup. That said, throughout the third period it became clear that the message had gone around the Habs room that these plays were not accidental. Montreal started really protecting Fowler, which led to far more after-the-whistle shenanigans, but it was the proper reaction in this case. 

– With seven minutes left in the game, the Blues apparently felt they had enough momentum to pull Binnington while trailing by two goals. They got a solid minute of zone control time before Josh Anderson started a streak of icings for the Habs that really slowed the Blues’ momentum. With three minutes to play, Fowler took an interesting gamble as he fired a puck up the middle as he tried to score a goal. He didn’t, but it was a fun sequence. 

– The story of the game remained Fowler as his hot streak continued with a career-high 46 saves. In the final minutes, he made an unreal rebound save before finally taking matters into his own hands. After enduring endless post-whistle bumps throughout the game, he launched Jake Neighbours’ stick across the ice, raising the temperature on the Blues bench. It ultimately didn’t matter as Fowler earned the shutout. 

HabsWorld Habs 3 Stars

1st Star – Jacob Fowler 

Despite the Habs being the better team in the first period, the rookie netminder still made a few big stops. That was just his warm-up, though, as he got a significant increase in workload in the second period and he made some complicated saves look easy as he was simply not going to be bothered by anything. 

Stats: 46 saves, 46 shots, 1.00 save %, 0.00GAA, 60:00 T.O.I. 

2nd Star – Mike Matheson 

A quiet two-assist night from Matheson means the Habs got the best version of Matheson on this night. No crazy bad puck management while making simple and effective plays that got his name on the board. This includes pucks on the net instead of shin pads and strong play in his own zone at the end of the game.  

Stats: 2 assists, +2, 2 shots, 1 hit, 23:25 T.O.I. 

3rd Star – Florian Xhekaj 

Not all wins are Picassos so not much to go on for a third star of the team. Xhekaj didn’t get a ton of ice time, but the second goal was a huge one that really allowed the Habs to breathe and protect their lead with a certain level of comfort in the later parts of the third period. This was his first NHL goal scored in a very Xhekaj-esque fashion as a borderline high stick followed a borderline cross-check in front of the net. An absolute beautiful greasy goal. Attaboy Florian! 

Stats: 1 goal, +1, 2 shots, 1 hit, 6:19 T.O.I.