Jacob Fowler doesn’t deserve to go back to Laval

Yes, he’s had his ups and downs. But we agree that there are more highs, especially in the last two games.

On Saturday, he blanked the Penguins. And yesterday, in a 6-2 win over the Bruins in Boston (a city important to him because of his years in the NCAA), Fowler made saves at the right times.

He gave away two goals in yesterday’s first at ugly times (right after the Canadiens’ first goal and just before the end of the period), but kept his team in the game with some good saves nonetheless.

And then he shut the door, which was the right thing to do to win.

Obviously, in the coming days, Kent Hughes, Jeff Gorton, and Martin St-Louis will have to ask themselves how to handle the three-goal situation.

After all, in light of the American goalie’s last two games, he definitely doesn’t deserve to go to Laval. Not right now, anyway.

Will the Habs send Jakub Dobes down? Will Samuel Montembeault’s stay in the AHL continue? Will Fowler go down anyway? Will the Habs go with three goalies? Will a trade or an injury change things?

These are the options on the table right now.

But it’s not just the goaltenders’ outfits that have Montreal talking these days. On the heels of yesterday’s game in Boston, there are a number of other things to note.

For example?

Phillip Danault was playing his first game with the Canadiens since the 2021 Stanley Cup Final. That, too, is a sentence I never thought I’d write on this December 24…

He wasn’t extraordinary, but he didn’t do badly either.

The Québécois, who hadn’t played in about two weeks (but didn’t need to go to Laval to do so), won only a third of his faceoffs.

But he still got some playing time on defensive assignments. In the first, when the Canadiens took two penalties in a row, his defensive unit kept the Canadiens in the game.

2. Nick Suzuki had a Nick Suzuki game in recent weeks: despite a tougher game for the eye test, he collected a goal and an assist.

The production has clearly been there since the start of the season. But he’s the first to say it: he sometimes plays frustratingly and doesn’t do enough on the ice. But at least he’s getting up often and producing.

3. Ivan Demidov was not used on the first powerplay wave. Zachary Bolduc was because Martin St-Louis liked the Boston matchup better .

What do you think?

Both guys (who scored on the power play) are good players. But Demidov has the profile and talent to play with the guys on the first powerplay.

In fact, Demidov’s goal yesterday was magnificent. In the shootout, in the captain’s place, it wouldn’t be any worse, would it?

4. We saw it on Demidov’s goal, but also in general: we wonder if the Bruins wanted to win. They were playing very disorganized hockey on the ice.

And it was even more obvious at the end of the game.

5. Lane Hutson had an excellent game, with three assists. That’s the same number of points as Noah Dobson, who also stood out.

Both guys stabilize the club’s defensive line-up, anyway.

It’s also worth noting that this was the third time in history that two defensemen of the Canadiens collected three assists apiece in the same game.

Andrei Markov and P.K. Subban and Guy Lapointe and Jean-Claude Tremblay are the other two pairs to have achieved the feat.

6. It was good to see the Canadiens take advantage of the Bruins’ largesse, who visited the penalty box a lot in the third. The Habs were also undisciplined early in the game, but hey.

Good teams have to seize these opportunities. And after an ordinary start, Martin St-Louis’ men rose to the occasion.

7. Charlie McAvoy deserves respect for managing to play despite the state of his jaw. However, if you’re going to slobber, you’ve got to be able to defend yourself, right?

That made a lot of people angry yesterday.

8. Samuel Blais managed to pick up his second point (and first goal) in a Canadiens uniform. In two games, he played his part.

And that’s despite the fact that he’s been little used since his recall.

extension

In the next few days, the Canadiens will be taking the Christmas break. The club will take a Christmas break from December 24 to 26. The next game is on December 28, in Tampa Bay.

So we won’t know what’s going to happen with Alexandre Texier (who didn’t finish yesterday’s game) for quite some time.

Jake Evans hasn’t played in a few games and we don’t know what’s going on with him. Will the Canadiens announce any bad news when the holidays come around?

Kirby Dach and Kaiden Guhle are theoretically close to a return. However, this is not the case for Patrik Laine or Alex Newhook.