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‘A switch just flipped’: Furious comeback puts Montreal right back in the PWHL title race

Posted on by Jared Book
Laura Stacey celebrates her game-tying goal late in the third period of Thursday's win. (Photo: Arianne Bergeron/PWHL)

With 2:49 remaining in the third period, PWHL Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie had a decision to make. She had a faceoff to the right of Minnesota goaltender Maddie Rooney and her team was down by a goal. The Montreal coach used her timeout, pulled the goaltender, and played at six-on-five.

Twenty-six seconds later, the game was tied. One minute and thirty seven seconds later, Montreal took a 4-3 lead in regulation that they would not relinquish to secure all three points and move themselves within two points of first place in the PWHL.

“In those moments, you always second guess when you should pull [the goalie],” said Cheverie. “If you get an [offensive] zone draw and the time seems right, it was a little early but we felt like if we could get the momentum that early then we can be in a situation to potentially get the regulation win. It was an easy decision at that point and everything worked out perfectly.”

The comeback started when Erin Ambrose fed Laura Stacey perfectly with a one-timer, and Stacey made no mistake, beating Rooney and sending the over 3,000 fans at the Verdun Auditorium into a frenzy.

It was Stacey’s eighth goal of the season.

“The goal by Stacey was an absolute missile, it was a heck of a shot.” said Minnesota head coach Ken Klee.

”Erin is a great player but the person she is off the ice is tremendous,” said Montreal captain Marie-Philip Poulin of Ambrose, who ended the night with assists on all four goals. “The way she sees the ice, there’s not many players who can see that. You can have a Laura Stacey one-timer but if the pass isn’t perfect I don’t think that puck is going to go in.”

After Marie-Philip Poulin was taken down in the offensive zone, Montreal had their fourth power play of the night with 1:41 left in regulation.

“I don’t love [the penalty call],” Klee said. “I thought it was unnecessary. She was down, he didn’t have his arm up and then the next thing he does have his arm up. That’s hockey. He’s trying to call what he sees. I don’t fault the game on him by any stretch. We need to be better on kills.”

Struggling for most of the season with only five power play goals in 19 games, Montreal won the game with their third power play goal of the game, and Kristin O’Neill’s second. It was the first time Montreal scored more than one power play goal in a game all season.

“It was one of the best power plays we’ve had all year,” Poulin said. “The passes were fast, we moved the puck fast. We’re happy with where it was but we’re not satisfied yet, we want to continue and we have four big games left.”

O’Neill got the puck in the slot and put it on net. It deflected up and over Rooney, who barely reacted until the puck was in the net behind her.

O’Neill, who had no goals for the first 16 games she played, now has three goals in her last three games.

”We knew it was in there but she’s such a defensive minded player that sometimes she’s thinking defence and then there’s an offensive moment and she’s already thought about defence so she almost works herself out of offensive opportunities,” said Cheverie. “Right before Worlds and leading into Worlds she allowed herself to play a little more freely and it has led to some offence. That’s an opportunity we’ve wanted to put her in and we believe that she’s ready and she’s taking full advantage.”

O’Neill had a great World Championships from Canada’s fourth line, scoring two goals and adding three assists in seven games. She was named one of Canada’s three best players at the tournament.

”Being able to contribute on offence at the World Championships really helped my confidence and I made it a goal of mine to bring that confidence back to this team in Montreal,” O’Neill said. “A switch just flipped in all of us and we were really determined to win that game. It was great to get on the scoreboard but we really won as a team.”

Montreal got off to a strong start, getting an early power play. At the 7:22 mark, Poulin found O’Neill at the side of the net who made a move to the front and kept batting at the rebound until it got past Rooney to give Montreal an early 1-0 lead on their first power play of the night.

“KO is someone that since Day 1 I told her how happy I was that she was on our team,” Poulin said. “She’s determined, she knows how to do the little details right. At the beginning of the season, people were being like ‘why isn’t she scoring’ but it was a matter of time. She does everything right game after game, day after day, and to have her on the power play, the way she put that puck in right away, just to put pressure… It would have been easy for her to pull out and make a pass but she attacked and got that goal and got us going right away. The way she holds herself accountable every day, she makes us better every day. She’s one of the leaders on this team.”

Minnesota would get chances of their own, but Elaine Chuli made the saves, and got help from her defence to clear the zone. On the ensuing rush, they drew a penalty to put Montreal back on the power play.

Montreal’s power play struck again. Great one-touch passing from Laura Stacey to Erin Ambrose to Marie-Philip Poulin led to Poulin firing it past Rooney to make it 2-0.

With three points, Poulin moved into a tie with Natalie Spooner for the PWHL scoring lead. Poulin’s 1.18 points per game leads the league.

The play was kept alive twice by Erin Ambrose at the line, and once by Poulin. Montreal spent the entire power play in the Minnesota zone.

Minnesota stormed back in the second period. After Montreal killed their first penalty of the period, the second one was the charm for Minnesota just 4:59 into the period. Michaela Cava found Grace Zumwinkle on a cross-ice pass and Zumwinkle’s slap shot beat Chuli. It was Zumwinkle’s 10th goal of the season.

On the shift immediately following the goal, Montreal had an opportunity on a delayed penalty when Poulin found Amanda Boulier, but Maddie Rooney made the save. On the ensuing power play, Montreal would again create chances, but shots were saved by Rooney or made their way wide.

Minnesota continued their momentum from before their penalty right after. On a long shift that kept Montreal hemmed in while they were able to make several changes with the short offensive zone change, they tied the game. Sophie Jaques took a shot that was tipped by Kelly Pannek past Chuli.

Only 1:24 later, Minnesota took the lead. After a Montreal turnover and possible trip, Minnesota had a two-on-one. Taylor Heise held the puck and found Brooke Bryant at the far side of the net after Montreal wasn’t able to pick her up. She put her first of the season past Chuli to make it 3-2. Minnesota’s three goals came in the first 10:47 of the period, with Jaques assisting on each one.

The two teams traded chances for the remainder of the period, but the best chance might have been Sophie Jaques’s shot on Chuli on a three-on-one after a turnover and two Montreal players colliding in the neutral zone. Chuli made the save in the final minute of the period to keep it a one goal game at the time.

Both teams would get plenty of chances in the opening half of the third period. Montreal had the best chances when a faceoff play went from Poulin to Stacey to Ambrose but Rooney made the save. The lines of Leah Lum, Sarah Lefort, and Sarah Bujold and Maureen Murphy, Claire Dalton, and Mikyla Grant-Mentis all had chances as Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie put Poulin, Stacey, and O’Neill together in the third.

Minnesota had chances of their own when they pounced on a loose puck that Chuli thought she had covered but the Montreal defence scrambled to get the puck out without any harm.

That led to the wild finish.

With the three points, Montreal snapped a four-game losing streak. Paired with Toronto’s regulation loss, they are now only two points behind Toronto for first place and one point behind Minnesota for second place. All teams have four games remaining. Montreal’s next game is Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. when they host Toronto at the Bell Centre. A record crowd for a women’s hockey game is expected as the biggest arena in North America is sold out.

If Montreal wins in regulation on Saturday, they will not only move ahead of Toronto but they will clinch a playoff spot.

Standings

TEAM GP RW OW OL RL PTS GF GA MAX PTS MAGIC TRAGIC
TOR 20 10 3 0 7 36 51 43 48 2 –
MIN 20 8 4 3 5 35 50 39 47 3 –
MTL 20 8 3 4 5 34 48 48 46 4 –
OTT 19 7 0 6 6 27 50 50 42 11 16
BOS 20 5 4 2 9 25 40 49 37 13 11
NY 19 3 4 3 9 20 39 49 35 – 9

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