Canadiens vs. Jets: Rookie Jacob Fowler Makes 33 Saves as Montreal Wins the Heritage Classic

Put a 21-year-old goalie in a football stadium, surround him with more than 32,000 people and give the home team four power plays. That sounds like a recipe for chaos. Jacob Fowler treated it like a Tuesday practice.

Fowler made 33 saves, Lane Hutson and Kaiden Guhle scored in the second period, and the Montreal Canadiens held off the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 on Sunday night at the 2026 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic. A crowd of 32,342 packed Princess Auto Stadium, home of the CFL's Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and watched a rookie goaltender steal the show in the open air.

"(Fowler) was tremendous," Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said, per NHL.com.

Twenty Scoreless Minutes, Then Two Quick Strikes

The first period came and went without a goal, and by its own coach's account, Winnipeg was the slower team out of the gate. "I thought we started a little bit slow," Jets coach Scott Arniel said.

The Canadiens broke through at 7:19 of the second. Noah Dobson slid a pass across the slot, and Hutson was lurking at the back door to tuck it behind Stuart Skinner for his third goal of the season. Nobody picked him up in time.

At 11:04, the Canadiens doubled it in a much less subtle way. Guhle caught a pass at the blue line and released a wrist shot in one motion, and the puck found its way through traffic and past Skinner. It was Guhle's second goal in as many games, and Cole Caufield picked up his second assist of the night on the play.

Guhle's Bomb Was the Difference

In a game that finished 2-1, the turning point is the goal Winnipeg never answered. Guhle's shot from the point gave Montreal a cushion, and that cushion turned out to be precisely one goal wide.

The Jets spent the rest of the night pressing. They had four power plays and Montreal had none, yet Winnipeg went 0-for-4. Over the full 60 minutes, the Jets outshot the Canadiens 34-21. They just could not solve the kid.

St. Louis was honest about how much defending his team had to do. "But ideally, I would like to have to defend less. We were good when we had to do it," he said. He also credited a penalty kill that did "a great job in front of 'Fows,'" while admitting his team "actually had to defend too much tonight."

Winnipeg finally got one with 4:46 to play. Isak Rosen got a Gabriel Vilardi feed below the right circle and one-timed it past Fowler for his first goal of the season. Jets forward Adam Lowry was thrilled for him. "He had a grade A, and real happy to see that go in for him," Lowry said.

That was all Fowler allowed. Winnipeg pushed for the equalizer the rest of the way, and the rookie did not budge.

The Kid in the Crease

Fowler stopped 33 of 34 shots for a .971 save percentage, and the history attached to that line is ridiculous. According to NHL.com, he became the youngest goalie in NHL history to start an outdoor game, at 21 years and 335 days. He is also the fourth rookie goaltender to win an outdoor game, and he has now won five straight starts, allowing eight total goals in that stretch. NHL.com noted he is the fourth different Canadiens rookie goalie since 1986-87 to put together a five-game winning streak.

Fowler, who played 17 games last season, sounded like a guy who trusts the skaters in front of him. "I just had a lot of belief in this group that if I can just give our team a chance, we have a lot of skill in this team and we can put a few goals in the net," he said.

Hutson, meanwhile, framed the win as a sign of growth. The Canadiens are "still learning how to play with the lead," he said, adding that the group is doing a better job of it. Caufield's two assists and Guhle's 23:10 of ice time rounded out a strong night for Montreal's core.

Skinner made 19 saves on 21 shots for Winnipeg.

A New-Look Jets Team

This was Winnipeg's first game since trading Connor Hellebuyck to the New Jersey Devils on Friday. Dawson Mercer, the headliner coming back from New Jersey, made his Jets debut on the biggest stage imaginable and logged 15:22 with two shots and a blocked shot. NHL.com noted he is only the fourth player to debut with a team in an outdoor game.

"Definitely a weird situation to be thrown into, but honestly a pretty special one that I'll cherish," Mercer said.

Stats That Matter

• 33 saves: Fowler's total on 34 shots, good for a .971 save percentage.
• 0 for 4: Winnipeg's power play against Montreal's penalty kill.
• 34-21: the shot advantage the Jets could not convert.
• 18: shots blocked by Montreal, a big reason the Jets' volume never became goals.
• 5: straight starts won by Fowler.

Where Things Stand

Montreal improved to 6-3-2 with 14 points and has points in four straight games. The Canadiens opened this four-game road trip with a 4-1 win in Chicago on Friday and head to St. Louis on Tuesday. They are now 3-2-0 all-time in outdoor games, according to NHL.com.

Winnipeg fell to 4-4-3 with 11 points and has lost five straight, with three regulation losses and two in overtime during the skid. Arniel pinpointed the problem. "We didn't make it a little bit more difficult for him to find pucks and this is something that we've got to make sure we do a better job at," he said. Per the AP, the Jets became the second Canadian team, after Edmonton, to host two outdoor games, and they have now lost both. The first was a 3-0 loss to the Oilers. Florida comes to town on Tuesday.

The Closing Take

Outdoor games are supposed to feel like a throwback to backyard rinks and frozen ponds. For Fowler, it was more like a coming-out party with a guest list bigger than most towns. He got peppered, he stayed calm, and he left with a win that will be on his highlight reel forever.

St. Louis wants to defend less. With this goalie, the Canadiens can afford to keep learning.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes from NHL.com's game recap; additional details as reported by the Associated Press and NHL.com.