Fowler Brings A General Confidence Throughout The Habs

Montreal Canadiens’ top goaltender prospect Jacob Fowler may have only played 5 NHL games so far, but he’s already showing that he has what it takes to be a great starting goaltender in the NHL for years to come. Not only is he giving the Habs chances to win every night that he plays, but he’s also building the confidence of the players playing in front of him. Overall, Fowler is just settling in great to NHL hockey thus far.

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It seems that with every game that Fowler plays, the Habs skaters are more comfortable with playing their own games and less worried about not making mistakes, which allows the Habs to finally play full 60-minute efforts on a nightly basis ever since Fowler was called up. The truth is, Samuel Montembeault’s lack of confidence trickled down to the players, which hurt the team for a while. While Jakub Dobes has been good in most of his starts, he does lack some consistency and doesn’t have the elite mechanics that Fowler possesses. With that being said, the Habs were able to win games with Dobes, but with Montembeault, due to trust in his game, they have struggled to perform.

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This is where Fowler came in and played a fantastic 1st period against the Pittsburgh Penguins in his first career start, which was able to get the players to get back on their game and play with confidence as a result. Since then, the Habs have gone 5-1-2 in their last 8 games, with Fowler posting a 3-1-1 record, a .918 save percentage, and a 2.40 GAA through 5 starts. When looking at high danger chances, Fowler’s .923 save percentage in those situations is the best in the NHL among goaltenders who have played 5 games so far this season.

Along with Fowler and the Habs skaters rolling, Dobes has also gotten back to form lately. Earlier in the season, Dobes went on an insane 6-0 start to open up the year with the Habs. He then had a few weeks where he struggled but eventually found his game again. However, with Montembeault still not having found his game, the Habs attempted to put full trust in Dobes, who got overworked in a 3-games-in-4-nights situation.