Jacob Fowler will get his third straight start for the Canadiens tonight, and Montreal is also rolling into the matchup with the Buffalo Sabres short on the blue line after Mike Matheson was ruled out.
The Canadiens confirmed the changes by saying, "Mike Matheson (day-to-day) will not play on Tuesday. Owen Beck will make his season debut and Jacob Fowler will get the start against the Sabres."
Matheson’s absence is a real hit for Montreal. He missed Monday’s practice for treatment, and now the team has confirmed he won’t dress.
The 32-year-old logged 23:01 in Saturday’s game against Detroit, which was second among Canadiens defensemen behind Lane Hutson’s 26:30. His $6 million cap hit tells you how central he is to this group.
With Matheson unavailable, Montreal will have to spread those minutes around. Noah Dobson, who played 19:54 against Detroit, and Alexandre Carrier, who was on the ice for 18:23, are in line to absorb more of the load.
Kaiden Guhle, back in the lineup Saturday for 15:35, should also be asked to take on more. And with only six defensemen available - Hutson, Carrier, Dobson, Guhle, Adam Engstrom and Arber Xhekaj - there isn’t much room for error.
That shortage also puts extra pressure on the bottom half of the defense. Xhekaj skated just 7:30 in his last outing, while Engstrom finished with 6:54. Without Matheson, Montreal loses its most experienced defenseman after Carrier, and the minutes have to come from somewhere.
Fowler, meanwhile, keeps getting more responsibility. The 21-year-old will make his third start of the season after stopping pucks at a .938 clip through his first two appearances. He also recorded a shutout Saturday against Detroit, giving Montreal something to lean on even with the roster stretched thin.
It’s not exactly the kind of setup you want in front of a young goalie, but Fowler has already given the Canadiens plenty to trust. Tonight, Montreal will be asking a six-man defense and a newly inserted Owen Beck to help make that confidence count.
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Montreals penalty killers handled every Buffalo man advantage in the game, and the recent trend now matters as much as the result itself. The Canadiens have strung together a run of successful kills over their last two games, a welcome answer after early-season trouble with power-play goals against had put extra pressure on the rest of the roster. [Read more 🡒]