Fowler joins elite list of Canadiens’ goalies to win 1st NHL start against Penguins 

If the Pittsburgh Penguins never again have a Montreal Canadiens goalie make his first NHL start against them, it will be a day too soon.

Jacob Fowler’s excellent 36-save performance on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena kept the Canadiens’ nearly 54-year-old perfect record intact. Fowler was the fourth Montreal goalie to make his first NHL start against the Penguins, all in Pittsburgh, and he was the fourth to send the home team down to defeat.

A bit of salt in the Penguins’ wound with Thursday’s 4-2 loss was that Fowler stoned the team that was his favorite in his youth.

“I mean, I could have played anywhere tonight,” Fowler said. “And to get your first win, it’s going to be special. But (I’ve) been to a lot of games here. Grew up a Pittsburgh fan. (Sidney) Crosby and (Marc-Andre) Fleury were my favorite players growing up.”

Canadiens goalie Jacob Fowler focuses on the play during his first NHL game on Dec. 11, 2025, a 4-2 win against the Penguins in Pittsburgh.

Fowler, a native of Melbourne, Florida, made NHL history Thursday as the League's first Florida-born goalie. He also was the youngest Canadiens goalie to earn a win in his debut (21 years, 17 days) since Carey Price on Oct. 10, 2007 (20 years, 55 days).

The late Ken Dryden got the Canadiens’ streak started in 1971. He was followed in 1985 by Patrick Roy, then in 2007 by Price, with Fowler now making it four consecutively.

Combined, the four goalies show a sterling .934 save percentage, the Canadiens outscoring the Penguins 17-8 in the four games.

Dryden had a relatively easy time of it on March 14, 1971, beginning a brilliant run of six straight regular-season victories before playing every game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, leading the Canadiens to the championship while winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the postseason. He’d win the Calder Trophy in 1971-72 as the NHL’s top rookie.

The Canadiens won Dryden’s first game, 5-1, the lanky goalie making 35 saves. Montreal was ahead 3-0 before John Stewart scored the Penguins’ only goal -- the first of Stewart’s career -- 18:01 into the second period.

Ken Dryden in action at the Montreal Forum in the early 1970s. Dryden’s first NHL game was in Pittsburgh on March 14, 1971.

“They had very few good shots,” said Dryden, having given fellow goalie Rogie Vachon the night off following the latter’s run of 15 straight games.

“Sure, I made a couple of reasonably difficult saves but I was warmed up to them after easier ones on the same shifts. From a shooting point of view, it wasn’t hard, not at all.”

Dryden had signed his first NHL contract two months earlier, continuing his McGill University law studies “as a hobby,” he said.

At one point during his first game, he admitted that he was thinking of a shutout. He would finish the night with a .972 save percentage.

Ken Dryden (l.) and Rogie Vachon in the Montreal Canadiens’ dressing room circa 1971.

“Maybe some goalies say they don’t think of shutouts, but I do,” Dryden said. “Trouble is, it’s just when you start patting yourself on the back that you get beaten.”

Dryden went on to have fantastic career success against the Penguins, with 15 regular-season wins, three losses and two ties, a .916 save percentage, 2.62 goals-against average and a shutout.

Fourteen years later, Roy made his first career start, having played one period with two saves the previous season in relief of Doug Soetaert against the visiting Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 23, 1985.

The second of three goals Roy would surrender to the Penguins on Oct. 10 in the Canadiens’ 5-3 victory would be to Pittsburgh superstar Mario Lemieux, a fellow future Quebec-native Hall of Famer with whom he remarkably shares the same Oct. 5, 1965, birthday.

Patrick Roy, his mask still an unpainted white, in action during his 1985-86 rookie season.

“I was nervous at the start of the game,” said Roy, who said he was surprised to get coach Jean Perron’s season-opening game goaltending nod ahead of Steve Penney.

The Canadiens would win the 23rd of their 24 Stanley Cup championships in 1985-86, Roy winning the Conn Smythe Trophy.

“I asked myself whether this would be different than preseason games, but everything happened pretty quickly,” he said. “I made a few good saves and that gave me confidence.”

As for Lemieux’s goal, the current New York Islanders coach shrugged, “I didn’t see the puck until it was in the net.”

He wouldn’t be the first, nor the last, goalie to say that.

Roy had a save percentage of .889 with 24 saves in his first career start; against the Penguins lifetime, with the Canadiens and the Colorado Avalanche, he had 25 wins, eight losses and 6 ties with a .916 percentage and 2.44 average. With Colorado, Roy never lost to Pittsburgh, with nine wins and two ties.

Patrick Roy guards the Canadiens net at the Montreal Forum, Penguins superstar Mario Lemieux circling behind him.

Twenty-two years after Roy’s first start, to the day, Price made his NHL debut in Pittsburgh on Oct. 10, 2007, making 26 saves (.929) in a 3-2 Canadiens win.

Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau was surprised to learn of the Roy anniversary the morning of the game, not that Price had a clue about it either.

“I wasn’t that nervous,” he told reporters, having yielded goals to Ryan Whitney and Max Talbot with Fleury in the Penguins net. “We did a good job keeping everything away from me.”

Price had drawn pregame inspiration from his father, Jerry, whom he called in British Columbia the previous night for a chat.

Goalie Carey Price guards the Canadiens net with defenseman Mike Komisarek as Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin tumbles during Price’s first NHL game on Oct. 10, 2007.

“My dad has always been there for me,” he said. “If things got a little rough, he was there. He told me to just go out and have fun.”

Price knew what he was up against, especially the firepower of Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

“You look at that lineup and you go, ‘Whoa, that’s some high-octane snipers,” he would say.

Crosby had six shots that night, earning an assist. On Thursday, against Fowler, he had seven, with an assist.

“(Fowler) was solid. We had some good looks,” Crosby said. “He looked pretty good in there. It would have been nice to get a little bit more traffic in front of him and test him more that way. The pucks that he was able to see, he did a good job.”

Carey Price in action against the Carolina Hurricanes on Oct. 3, 2007 in Raleigh. A week later, Price would make his NHL debut in Pittsburgh against the Penguins.

For the record, Fowler was the 41st NHL goalie to make his first career start against the Penguins, the Canadiens the first with four debut games.

Three teams have had three each:

Boston Bruins, with Norm Foster in 1991, Hannu Toivonen in 2005 and Dan Vladar in 2021.

Calgary Flames, with Trevor Kidd in 1992, Tyler Moss in 1997 and Tyrone Garner in 1999.

Philadelphia Flyers, with Tommy Soderstrom in 1992, and Johan Backlund and Sergei Bobrovsky, both in 2010.

Top photo: Canadiens goalie Jacob Fowler and defenseman Mike Matheson watch a puck fly toward the corner during Fowler’s first NHL game n Pittsburgh on Dec. 11, 2025.