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PWHL: Dubois, O’Neill the unlikely but fitting heroes in an historic 4OT win

(Photo by Laurent Corbeil/PWHL)

It’s hard to imagine a more fitting way for the Montreal Victoire to get their first playoff win in team history. Not only did it come in overtime. Not only did it come after blowing a 2-0 lead late in the third period. Not only did it come on May 11. Not only did it come in the new longest PWHL game in history.

It came from the team’s second line. It came on a turnover created by Kristin O’Neill. It came on a pass from O’Neill. It came on a shot by Catherine Dubois. The rest, as they say, is history – literally.

It’s hard to imagine a player more scrutinized on this Victoire team all season than O’Neill. The team’s second-round pick in the inaugural PWHL draft, she was expected to be the sidekick to a top line driven by Marie-Philip Poulin. Poulin does it all – offence, defence, faceoffs, penalty kill – but she can’t play 40 minutes a game (at least, not one that ends in regulation).

The team relies on O’Neill to do a lot more than score. She is one of the team’s top defensive forwards, expected to take key draws in the defensive zone, play tough opponents, and kills penalties. But much of the criticism of Montreal’s depth is misplaced. They have one of the deeper forward groups in the entire league. Their bottom six can match up well against any other team’s bottom six. The issue all season, and especially the second half, was having a second line able to score.

Much of that criticism started and ended with O’Neill. That’s also how Sunday’s game went. It started with O’Neill’s goal 2:25 into the game on Montreal’s first shot. It ended when she fed Dubois, who scored with Montreal’s last. The third member of the line was Kaitlin Willoughby.

The goal was O’Neill’s first in 25 games, dating back to December 30. That goal was the only one she scored all season.

“She’s battled the whole season and she’s played in key moments for us, and had different opportunities” said Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie. “We seem to have found a great combination with the three of them.”

Then there’s Dubois. Her path to where she is right now couldn’t be more of a roller coaster. She started last season on the team’s reserve roster, unable to crack the initial 23-player roster. After getting a chance (and scoring in her first PWHL game) she earned a contract for the rest of the season and got an extension after the season ended.

She missed training camp after suffering from a health incident late in the summer. She seemed to be a fringe player in the bottom of the forward group, but she kept pushing. She finished the regular season on a three-game scoring streak. Her game-winner was her first playoff goal, and came after she played over 35 minutes. In last year’s three-overtime loss, she played 9:35.

The third member of that line may be the most surprising and unexpected. Kaitlin Willoughby wasn’t even a member of the Victoire until the PWHL trade deadline on March 13. She was expected to be forward depth. She has grown into a top-six contributor on this team. Her 40:21 of icetime was fourth among Victoire forwards, just one minute behind top-line player Jennifer Gardiner and six minutes behind Laura Stacey and Poulin. She registered seven shots on goal, had an assist on O’Neill’s goal, and finished the night +2.

“The addition of Willow has certainly helped in terms of bringing more speed and being able to fill out the identity that [O’Neill] brings of a relentless style of play.”

Media colleague Kyle Cushman made a great observation on Twitter. In 20 games with Toronto prior to the trade, she played a total of 76:43. She played over half of that in Game 2 alone with Montreal.

“They wore their heart on their sleeves the entire game,” said head coach Kori Cheverie about their line. “For Dubois, she’s such a fan favourite so for her to put the puck in the back of the net and to get rewarded with how hard they play, I’m really happy for them.”


Unlike last year, this was really a full team effort. All 19 skaters played at least 9:30 in the game, and all 19 played in overtime. Dara Greig didn’t play the entire first overtime but was called upon for a few shifts afterwards, and made a key shot block at the top of the zone and created a scoring chance shortly after. Claire Dalton went over two periods of overtime without a shift, but made a similar impact in her first shift and had a regular shift in the fourth overtime.

“Those two players are really important to our team culture,” Cheverie said. “The girls got energized from that. It wasn’t easy for those two. I didn’t use them for a whole period and then I would just say ‘hey get ready because we’re going to need you.'”

Montreal started to control more of the play the longer the game went, and a lot of that is because of the team’s depth. Yes, Kori Cheverie leaned on her top players (which, it must be said, there were more of this year), but she wasn’t afraid to extend her bench in a way she didn’t last year.

Game 3 goes Tuesday night in Ottawa with the best-of-five series tied 1-1.

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