Hockey
Jacob Fowler: The 21-Year-Old Goalie Who Owned October
A month ago, he was starting the season with the Laval Rocket. One month later, Jacob Fowler is the NHL's Rookie of the Month for October, the hottest goaltender in hockey — and the beating heart of a Canadiens team riding a five-game win streak.
The call-up that changed everything
On October 7, Samuel Montembeault went down in practice. The Canadiens recalled Fowler from Laval, where the 21-year-old had opened the season. His first start, the next night against Nashville, was a rough one: three goals on 18 shots in a 5-2 loss. Nobody could have guessed what came next.
He hasn't lost since. Seven straight wins — a run that transformed Montreal's season and installed the 2023 third-round pick (69th overall) as the undisputed starter, as the Canadiens climbed to 9-3-2 and their fifth straight victory.
A historic October
The numbers are staggering: eight starts, 7-1-0, a 1.84 goals-against average, a .932 save percentage and two shutouts, with 205 saves on 220 shots. The seven October wins tie the NHL record for a rookie goalie in a single October — a mark shared with Michal Neuvirth (2010), Ed Belfour (1990) and Jacques Plante (1954). The difference: the other three needed 11 games. Fowler did it in eight.
Three nights defined the month. On October 10 against Detroit, he blanked the Red Wings in a 1-0 shootout win (30 saves), the second shutout of his NHL career. On October 25, at the Heritage Classic in Winnipeg, he stopped 33 of 34 Jets shots in a 2-1 win — at 21 years and 335 days, the youngest goaltender ever to play in and win an NHL outdoor game.
Then St. Louis, October 27: 46 saves, including 24 in the third period, in a 2-0 shutout. A franchise record for a rookie — the most saves in a shutout since the 1955-56 season.
The honors pile up
The league took notice: Fowler was named the NHL's Rookie of the Month for October, adding a third star of the week (Oct. 19-25) and the NHLPA's player of the week. In Montreal, he collected the Molson Cup as the team's most decorated player of the month.
His seven-game win streak puts him alongside Carey Price (7-0-0 in 2007-08) in Canadiens rookie lore. Price, fittingly, enters the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 9 — and Fowler grew up idolizing him, like nearly every goalie of his generation.
What's next?
The question is no longer who starts in net, but how far this goes. The Calder race — the trophy for the NHL's rookie of the year — now runs through Montreal, and the Florida kid's path, via Boston College (the 2025 Mike Richter Award) and Laval, reads more and more like a fairy tale.
Next test: tonight, 7 p.m. at the Bell Centre, against the Winnipeg Jets (4-8-3). A Heritage Classic rematch for Winnipeg, and a chance for Fowler to stretch Montreal's win streak to six. The fans, for their part, have already claimed their new number one.