Canadiens Fowler Took Notes

In his first three games with the Montreal Canadiens this season, Jacob Fowler was beaten by a few close, deflected shots, and the coaching staff didn’t miss it. On Saturday morning at the Bell Centre, goalie coach Marco Marcianno worked with his goalies on screened shots, explaining the theory before putting it to the test with help from some players. Meanwhile, Martin St-Louis, who generally doesn’t get involved with the goaltenders’ training, stood close by at their end of the ice and watched Fowler and Jakub Dobes be put through their paces.

In the game against the Buffalo Sabres, Fowler performed better on screened shots; somehow, he managed to remain square to the shot despite not necessarily being able to see the puck. His positioning and instinct did the rest; at times, he was so well positioned that the puck hit him, and when he couldn’t freeze it right away, someone was always there to clear the front of the net.

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He improved from that standpoint; of course, his game wasn’t perfect, and a couple of instances could have been stopped with an active stick, but as Martin St-Louis often says, perfection is not possible. In the end, Fowler made 20 saves on 23 shots, for an .870 save percentage. While he found a way to win, that may allow St-Louis to put Dobes in net against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night, although the Czech netminder has lost his two career games against them.

The coach may decide to wait until the Canadiens are on their four-game road trip to give Dobes another game. Montreal will play in Chicago on Friday, Winnipeg on Sunday for the Heritage Classic, St. Louis on Tuesday, and Dallas on Thursday. Both goalies will need to play during that span, and it’ll be interesting to see who gets the nod for the outside game, since players generally like playing in those games.

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