Les Canadiennes shut out Boston Blades

Les Canadiennes beat the Boston Blades 2-0 on Saturday evening at the Walter Brown arena in Boston in a game that was probably closer than most would have expected.

Leslie Oles opened the scoring 12:40 into the first period with assists from Katia Clement-Heydra and Karell Emard. Oles missed the first part of the season with an injury and has played in six games. It was her first goal of the year.

Boston would have three opportunities to tie the game on the power play, but were turned aside at each opportunity.

7:16 into the third period, Ann-Sophie Bettez scored her eighth goal of the season assisted by Caroline Ouellette and Marie-Philip Poulin to extend Montreal’s lead to 2-0.

That was the way the game would end. Boston’s Lauren Dahm made 28/30 saves in the loss. Montreal’s power play was 0/1 while the Blades ended the game 0/5.

The two teams will play the second half of their series this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. also at the Walter Brown arena in Boston.

Notes:

• Montreal played this game without six regulars. Julie Chu was coaching Concordia University over the University of Ottawa, Noémie Marin was coaching Canada’s National Development Team at the Nations Cup in Germany, a team that included Canadiennes teammate Sarah Lefort. They won the silver medal. Carly Hill, Kim Deschênes, and Emmanuelle Blais also did not play.
• After originally being left off the CWHL All-Star Game roster, Caroline Ouellette and Julie Chu were added to the game. It means Les Canadiennes have eight participants in the game. Ouellette leads the league in scoring with 24 points.
• Montreal announced this week that they will play next Sunday at the Civic Centre in Dollard-des-Ormeaux. The Saturday game will be at the Complexe Bell in Brossard. They will be facing off against the Calgary Inferno, who remain three points ahead of Montreal in the standings.