First period
- Jacob Fowler comes out to play the puck in the opening seconds and sends it across to his defenceman. That should be the end of any nerves he felt after the giveaway for a goal in his last start.
- Arber Xhekaj shoves Rutger McGroarty in the back and sends him flying into the boards. That’s really just two minutes for being stronger.
- Joe Veleno gets a shot off short-handed, but the rebound just eludes Oliver Kapanen.
- Moments later Josh Anderson fires a shot off the crossbar. The Penguins seem to have been confused about which team had the power play.
- Nick Suzuki and Alexandre Texier go in on a two-on-one with the game back at five-on-five. Texier’s shot goes wide. Plenty of chances early for Montreal.
- While all this is going on, Jake Evans has left for the dressing room. He was being tasked with shadowing Sidney Crosby, so his absence will be felt.
- Fowler’s first save is on a breakaway. He stops Kevin Hayes, then swallows up a weak secondary effort.
- The sound has gone wonky on the broadcast, garbling what was surely some brilliant analysis from Garry Galley.
- Veleno has a difficult time hitting a puck bouncing out to the front of his own net and it results in a chance for Pittsburgh, but Fowler made it look routine.
- Under some pressure in the defensive zone, Juraj Slafkovský calmly waits for the puck to get past a Penguins player before corralling it and beginning the breakout. He’s seeing the game a step ahead at the moment.
- Owen Beck’s line came out and for a minute I thought it was the top trio with the chances they generated. Great looks for both him and Veleno.
- On its next shift, Beck tips a shot in the slot that requires a big save from Stuart Skinner. Veleno is hauled down as they build up for another go, and that will earn the big boys a power play. Two great shifts back-to-back for those two.
- The Penguins take the puck off Cole Caufield’s stick, but Slafkovský takes a couple of strides to beat two penalty-killers to the puck to poke it to Suzuki. He gets rewarded for the effort with a pass in the slot, and converts it into a goal.
Cole Caufield sets up Juraj Slafkovsky in the slot and he rips a power play goal, 1-0 #Habs
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) December 20, 2025 at 8:45 PM
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- The Penguins spent a couple of shifts in Montreal’s zone, but didn’t get anything out of it.
- Owen Beck gets something huge out of his next shift. He carries the puck down the wing and takes advantage of a falling defender to work more to the middle. He sends the puck over Skinner’s glove, and finally has his first official NHL goal.
Owen Beck's first NHL goal was called back against the Penguins last meeting, but THIS one won't be. 2-0 #Habs
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) December 20, 2025 at 8:51 PM
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- Lane Hutson recorded career point #100 by getting the puck to Beck to Brendan Gallagher to begin the play.
- The teams may have traded some chances back and forth all period long — NST has the chances at 13-10 Montreal — but you’ll take that with the quality of the two rosters on the ice as long as Crosby isn’t the one getting all the looks.
Second period
- Evans is out for the game. Not ideal when you lose your shutdown centre, especially in a back-to-back situation.
- The energy has suddenly left this game. Montreal has to conserve some energy now that it’s down to 11 forwards, but the Penguins don’t have the same excuse.
- Crosby takes some friendly fire with his teammate’s stick to the face and goes down behind the goal line. Even though the Canadiens had the puck, the ref immediately blew the play dead. I know he’s a superstar, but that was a little excessive from the referee.
- In fairness, it was a stick near the eye, but I don’t think the ref knew that in real time.
- Suzuki gives Caufield some room on the wall with a drop-pass, and both Caufield and Zachary Bolduc get chances out of it, with Bolduc knocking the puck off the post.
- Erik Karlsson makes a cross-crease pass to Justin Brazeau. Fowler follows it perfectly and gets a piece of the shot with his glove. This is Fowler’s sharpest start so far.
- As Rust then fires a shot off the crossbar from a faceoff win. But Fowler then makes a toe save on a tipped shot that flutters up into his glove.
- Suzuki plays the puck over the glass under some pressure from Crosby. They have a little chat afterward, probably something like, “Please don’t do that when I’m a member of your team.”
- Matheson breaks his 30th stick of the season. He must have placed his order with Temu.
- Anderson blows past Crosby down the ice to get a short-handed breakaway, and solves Skinner to make it a 3-0 game. “Please do that when I’m a member of your team,” Crosby likely said as he skated back to the bench.
Oliver Kapanen clears the zone, Josh Anderson blows by Sidney Crosby for the shorthanded goal
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) December 20, 2025 at 9:35 PM
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- Montreal has been the much more dangerous team on Pittsburgh’s power plays.
- Suzuki and Caufield team up for a high-danger off a rush and then continue to work the puck on a cycle. The Penguins have no choice but to ice the puck.
- Pittsburgh is desperately trying to get on the board now, and Montreal is countering with numbers.
- The media might have to give Evgeni Malkin some Hart Trophy votes based on how the Penguins have played without him.
- Fowler makes a great save on Rickard Rakell to keep the lead at three goals.
- Texier plays the puck off his foot to Caufield, who sets up a speeding Anderson for another shot. This one goes just off the side of the net. A crossbar, a goal, and another close for Anderson in this game.
- The crowd gives Ivan Demidov a nice cheer for holding the puck deep behind the Pittsburgh net against four opponents, and then raise their voices as the siren sounds on a great period for the home team. Demidov wasn’t going to allow another last-minute goal on that shift.
Third period
- Even Slafkovský’s simple plays are impressive right now. He makes a little juke to avoid some back pressure and gain just a little bit of space to start a breakout. I look forward to seeing the player Demidov becomes once he matures to that level, and I think it’s great he’s out there on the same line trying to replicate the effort.
- The Penguins are .. well they’re playing hockey, but not in a manner that’s going to result in three goals in the next 13 minutes. These recent losses seem to have killed their spirit.
- I can see why Montreal would want to pounce on that effort, but they probably don’t need to have a defenceman join in for a four-on-two rush at the moment.
- Right, the whole awarding trailing teams power plays. The Penguins draw one despite an endless stream of rush chances for Montreal as the vicious Hutson goes off for cross-checking.
- Fowler stops another point-blank shot from Rakell.
- And then a Crosby one-timer.
- Pittsburgh puts in the work on the power play that has been lacking in this frame, but Fowler is the top performer, making seven saves.
- The Penguins go six-on-five with over seven minutes to play. Why do they hate Fowler so much?
- The Habs are just firing it the 200 feet whenever they get a chance.
- Veleno is hobbled by a shot block, and Fowler smartly freezes the puck to allow him to get off the ice.
- Anderson misses the empty net for a second time. Slafkovský spins and hits the base of the post.
- Anderson doesn’t miss a third time. He nets his second to seal this game a little bit more than it was already sealed.
- The clock hits zero, and it’s Jacob Fowler’s first NHL shutout. A nice way to say goodbye to the home fans before the holiday season.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) Zero Fowlers fouling
2) Tonight’s feature: Jurry and the Andersons
1) His mantle is already full
