The Montreal Victoire evened its best-of-five playoff series at 1–1 with a gritty triple-overtime win in Game 2, with the goal scored by Captain Clutch herself, Marie-Philip Poulin.
Poulin, who was in visible discomfort most of the night, wired a one-timer from the right circle just over four minutes into the third overtime period.
“Tonight’s win gives us momentum,” Marie-Philip Poulin said. “We wanted to win at home in front of our fans, we gave them practically two games in one. We’ll celebrate it, but we’ll go to Minnesota and do the work there.”
Goaltending defined the night. Ann-Renée Desbiens stopped all 38 shots she faced for the shutout, rebounding from a rare five-goal outing in Game 1. At the other end, Minnesota’s Maddie Rooney was outstanding with 51 saves.
When asked about rebounding after the 5–4 loss in Game 1, Desbiens said, “It’s not like I’ve been in the habit of stringing together bad performances, so it’s really just about getting back to work and practicing. And as a team, we showed a lot of character. We have a lot of depth this year, we noticed that today.”
She added, “It’s really fun to see that there were a lot of contributions from the players who made some great plays, and even in the third overtime, obviously Marie-Philip scored, but the other players were still contributing a lot, and it allowed us to have fresher players to score with that group.”
Montreal took control in overtime, outshooting Minnesota 25–11 across 44 minutes of extra hockey. Despite missed power-play chances on both sides, the Victoire kept building pressure until they finally broke through.
Poulin, playing through a lower-body injury which took her out for multiple games this season, emphasized the team’s resilience.
“The energy we have, I think that’s really what keeps us going. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We knew we were going to overtime… we train very hard, and I think it really showed tonight. We put a lot of pressure on the defencemen, we were able to keep the puck in their zone and that’s what makes me think we exhausted them a little bit, and we were able to have that chance.”
One notable difference from Game 1 was the discipline on both sides. Despite Game 2 stretching into double overtime, the teams combined for just 10 minutes of penalties — a sharp contrast to the 37 minutes recorded in the opener, including 15 minutes from Britta Curl-Salemme’s five-minute major and game misconduct for a hit on Victoire forward Kaitlin Willoughby which also got her suspended for Tuesday’s game.
In a post-game interview with Jocks in Jills, Poulin was asked about the shift in the Victoire’s play in the overtime periods.
“I think for all of us, it was just to chip away. We knew it was not gonna be easy […] and getting that goal, it was a matter of effort, and all of us chipping in, and I think people stuck to it, and, yeah, it was important to get that win. I think being able to get that win and going on the road now was super important and happy we’re here, but, obviously, we’re not done yet,” she said.
Rookie defender Nicole Gosling also stepped up in a major way, logging over 43 minutes of ice time in a marathon performance. When asked about her play, coach Cheverie had nothing but praise saying, “She’s a young D and typically we want to try to shelter her at times, but there was no sheltering tonight. She just kept going and going, and again, she was someone who just kept getting better and better. “
With the series now tied, the focus shifts quickly to Game 3 in Minnesota on Thursday. Puck drop is at 7pm Eastern, and the game is available on Prime Video in English and French (Canada), and worldwide on YouTube.
