Jacob Fowler made 36 saves in his NHL debut to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on December 11, 2025. The 21-year-old rookie, selected in the third round of the 2023 NHL Draft, became the first Florida-born goalie in league history and joined an elite list of Canadiens netminders to win their debut against Pittsburgh. Cole Caufield scored his 17th goal of the season, while Pittsburgh dropped its third straight game.
The game, delayed 30 minutes due to a highway accident, saw Montreal strike first when Alexandre Texier stole the puck from Kris Letang and snapped a shot past Tristan Jarry at 2:54 of the first period for his first goal of the season, making it 1-0.
In the second period, Brendan Gallagher wristed a cross-ice pass from Lane Hutson at 4:37 to extend the lead to 2-0, marking his second goal in 30 games. Caufield followed with a power-play tally at 10:18, his wrist shot from below the goal line deflecting off Jarry's skate for 3-0. Fowler preserved the shutout bid by stopping Ben Kindel and Erik Karlsson on a Penguins power play moments later.
Owen Beck's apparent goal at 16:21 was overturned on an offside challenge. Pittsburgh responded early in the third, with Bryan Rust chipping in Sidney Crosby's backhand pass at 0:44 to cut it to 3-1. Oliver Kapanen quickly restored the three-goal margin at 0:59, tapping in Juraj Slafkovsky's pass for 4-1. Karlsson added a power-play goal with the extra attacker at 15:07, his second of the season, but it wasn't enough.
Fowler, who grew up a Penguins fan idolizing Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury, made seven saves on the captain. "It's hard not to notice when he's on the ice," Fowler said. Crosby praised the rookie: "He was solid. We had some good looks."
Montreal improved to 16-11-3 after a 6-1 loss to Tampa Bay, with Hutson and Slafkovsky each recording two assists. Pittsburgh, now 14-8-7, managed just four shots in the first period but 34 in the final two. Jarry stopped 25 shots. Notes: Crosby reached 1,719 points, four shy of Mario Lemieux's Penguins record. Jake Evans missed the game for personal reasons.
