Fowler Makes 34 Saves as Canadiens Beat Jets 2-1 in Heritage Classic

The Montreal Canadiens beat the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 on Sunday, October 25, 2026, in the Heritage Classic outdoor game at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg, with goaltender Jacob Fowler making 34 saves to hold off a late Jets push.

Montreal scored both of its goals in the second period, through defensemen Lane Hutson and Kaiden Guhle, after a scoreless first period. Winnipeg scored once in the third period and outshot Montreal 35 to 21, but Fowler kept the Jets to a single goal on the night.

Two defensemen score in the second

Lane Hutson opened the scoring at 7:19 of the second period, assisted by Noah Dobson and Cole Caufield. Kaiden Guhle doubled the lead at 11:04 of the second period, assisted by Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky. Both Montreal goals were scored by defensemen, and Caufield assisted on each of them, according to the recap published by SportsFBI and theScore.

Winnipeg goaltender Stuart Skinner stopped 19 of the 21 shots he faced. At the other end, Fowler faced far more work and stopped 34 of 35 shots, a workload that decided a game in which Montreal was outshot by fourteen.

Rosen spoils the shutout, Montreal kills the late penalty

Isak Rosen scored Winnipeg's only goal at 15:24 of the third period, assisted by Gabriel Vilardi and Haydn Fleury. The goal spoiled Fowler's shutout bid late and cut the Montreal lead to one goal with less than five minutes left to play.

Winnipeg had one more chance to tie the game late. Montreal forward Josh Anderson was called for tripping with 1:32 remaining, giving the Jets a power play in the final minute and a half. Montreal killed the penalty and closed out the win, according to theScore.

An outdoor night in Winnipeg

This was the second outdoor game held at the stadium in Winnipeg. The Edmonton Oilers beat the Jets 3-0 in the first one in 2016, according to theScore.

Montreal played the game without its captain. Sportsnaut reported that the Canadiens played without captain Nick Suzuki for the second straight game. Even without Suzuki, Montreal got its goals from its blue line, got two assists from Caufield, and got the goaltending it needed from Fowler, whose 34 saves were the largest single reason Winnipeg's 35 shots produced only one goal on Sunday night outdoors in Winnipeg.

The result was decided by small margins in every period: no goals in the first, two Montreal goals in a span of less than four minutes in the second, and a single Winnipeg answer in the third that came too late to change the outcome once Montreal survived the final penalty kill.