Fowler makes 31 saves for 1st NHL shutout, Canadiens blank Penguins

MONTREAL -- Jacob Fowler made 31 saves for his first NHL shutout, and the Montreal Canadiens sent the Pittsburgh Penguins to their eighth straight loss, 4-0 at Bell Centre on Saturday.

“It’s cool, it’s another puck to give to my dad and let him put in the trophy case,” Fowler said. “I was just grateful for the effort in front of me. They made my job pretty easy tonight to see pucks and be under control, and I think we’ve been good the last few games and I just need to make a couple more saves like tonight.”

Fowler’s shutout came in his fourth start; the 21-year-old native of Melbourne, Florida, made 36 saves in his NHL debut in a 4-2 win in Pittsburgh on Dec. 11.

“The way he carries himself it seems like he’s been ready for it for a long time,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said.

Josh Anderson scored twice, and Owen Beck got his first NHL goal for Montreal (19-12-4), which has won three of four and is 4-1-1 in its past six games.

“(Fowler) made a lot of good saves and he has been great so far since he got here, and I’m happy for him that he got the shutout,” Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky said.

Stuart Skinner made 17 saves in his second start for Pittsburgh (14-11-9), which has lost three straight in regulation and is 0-4-4 in its past eight. Skinner was acquired in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 12.

“The guys played really hard in front of me, a lot of big blocked shots tonight,” Skinner said. “And you saw as the second period and third period went on we were taking over the game. I really like how we responded, especially being down going into the third. How the guys came out was impressive.”

Sidney Crosby remained one point from tying Mario Lemieux for the Penguins’ all-time scoring record. Crosby has 1,722 points (644 goals, 1,078 assists) in 1,386 games.

“I didn’t know that,” Fowler said. “I think any time he’s on the ice you’re alert. He’s one of my favorite players. You know when he’s on the ice every time and you want to stop him. So I’m just lucky I got the better end of it tonight.”

Slafkovsky put the Canadiens up 1-0 with a power-play goal at 16:41 of the first period. After lunging to get to a loose puck and keep possession in the offensive zone, Slafkovsky circled back into the slot and scored stick side on a pass from Cole Caufield.

“It’s a power play so you’re always trying to win every single puck, especially if you’re playing in the middle, like I am,” Slafkovsky said.

Beck made it 2-0 at 18:49 when he drove in and scored on a wrist shot past Skinner glove side from the inside edge of the left face-off circle. The goal was Beck’s second point in 21 NHL games, and first in eight games this season.

Brendan Gallagher set up the goal and retrieved the puck for Beck, who had two apparent goals waved off previously this season.

“The first one would have been good enough but I think that one was pretty sweet too,” Beck said. “It just makes it that much more sweet and exciting for me, and I’m happy I could do it in this building too.”

Lane Hutson got the secondary assist for his 100th point (11 goals, 89 assists) in his 119th game to become the 11th-fastest defenseman to that milestone in NHL history, and the fourth-fastest United States-born defenseman.

Anderson scored short-handed on a breakaway at 12:14 of the second period to extend the lead to 3-0. He chased down a flip pass from Oliver Kapanen into the Penguins’ zone and drove in alone to score on a shot from the slot.

Anderson shot into an empty net from his own zone at 17:02 of the third period for the 4-0 final.

“With the way things are going right now I don’t think anyone feels on top of their game,” Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson said. “You try to create a little bit more chaos in front of their net and put pucks in there at the right time so we have a chance, if it doesn’t go in, we can get it back and hold onto it and wear them down a little bit more.

“I think that other teams are doing that to us and it’s hard to play against. It wears you down and you get tired, and when it’s your time to attack you don’t have as much gas in the tank as you want to. So I think we’ve got to find a way to do that because I think we did a great job of that in the beginning of the season.”

NOTES: Crosby sustained a cut to the face when he was struck by Penguins defenseman Brett Kulak’s stick at 7:16 of the second. He went to the dressing room briefly before returning. … Hutson is the fastest Canadiens defenseman to 100 points, and the 11th-fastest Montreal player. … At the age of 21 years, 26 days, Fowler is the youngest Canadiens goalie with a shutout since Carey Price (20 years, 229 days) on April 1, 2008, and the sixth-youngest U.S.-born goalie ever to record an NHL shutout.