For the first time in their history, PWHL Montreal is facing adversity. They have lost back-to-back games in regulation for the first time and in Sunday’s 4-2 loss to Ottawa at Place Bell, they also did not have their captain Marie-Philip Poulin, out with a lower-body injury.
The team says Poulin is day-to-day.
“I’m not confident and I’m not not confident [that she will play next week],” said Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie. “I’m kind of in the middle and I try to stay as even-keel as I can because I don’t know. We’re doing what we’ve done with all of our players all year which is making sure that they are healthy and their health is the number one priority and we’re being as preventative as we can.”
Laura Stacey and Mélodie Daoust both scored third period goals to put Montreal within one goal, but that was as close as they came. Before Laura Stacey’s goal at the 11:10 mark of the third period, Montreal had gone 126:47 without scoring over three different games.
“It’s our first time losing two in a row and for us there’s two ways to look at that,” said Stacey. “It’s ‘shoot we just lost two in a row’ or ‘wow this is the first time all season we’ve lost two in a row’ and I think that’s important for us as players to look at both sides of that picture and say ‘it’s OK, it’s hockey’. Of course we don’t want that to happen, of course we have another big game coming up, yes we just lost to Ottawa but we’re hockey players, we’re going to bounce back. Two in a row is not the end of the world especially if we put our work boots on and show up [at practice] and we prepare to get better.”
Montreal’s special teams were once again an issue, as they have been for the stretch of three games in five nights. The Montreal power play went 1/5 and the penalty kill went 3/5.
Ottawa opened the scoring in final minute of the first period. Brianne Jenner fired a shot from the right circle with 37 seconds remaining that beat Montreal goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens.
In the second period Montreal’s penalty kill was forced back into action. After a Sarah Lefort interference penalty, the puck was shot behind Desbiens’s net. Desbiens was tripped by Ottawa forward Lexie Adzija behind the net. She then froze the puck outside of her crease instead of playing it, leading to a delay of game penalty. Adzija was not penalized for the trip.
It led to 44 seconds of a five-on-three, which Montreal was able to kill. It seemed like they were going to take momentum back, but just over a minute after the penalties were killed, Daryl Watts walked into space and beat Desbiens with a shot off the post and in.
In the third period, Montreal was given a couple of chances to get themselves back in the game with two power plays. The first one they didn’t convert but on the second, Stacey fired a shot from the left point that beat Maschmeyer. It was Stacey’s seventh goal of the season.
Un beau tir sur réception de Stacey!
— LPHF Montréal (@PWHL_Montreal) March 10, 2024
Stacey puts us on board!
MTL 1, OTT 2 pic.twitter.com/1uJxcBseFs
They didn’t stay within one goal for very long. Just 1:34 after Stacey’s goal, Ottawa restored their two goal lead when Aneta Tejralovà’s point shot went all the way through traffic and Desbiens to make it 3-1.
Once again Montreal would push. With 2:58 remaining, and Desbiens on the bench for the extra attacker, Mélodie Daoust put a loose puck past Maschmeyer with a backhand on the doorstep to once again make it a one-goal game at 3-2.
Voici le but à Mélo!
— LPHF Montréal (@PWHL_Montreal) March 10, 2024
Mélo’s goal! https://t.co/sScq8QWpxx pic.twitter.com/Sa0PDCGj79
Gabbie Hughes added the empty net goal with 1:05 left which is how the game ended.
Maschmeyer, who played two seasons with Les Canadiennes in the CWHL and continued to train in the city before joining Ottawa in the PWHL, made 34 saves in the win.
“Playing in front of a Montreal crowd is a lot of fun,” Maschmeyer said. “I’m used to being on the other side so it’s a little bit different being on the opposing team but I appreciate the energy that comes from the crowd and their passion for hockey.”
She was cheered by the Montreal crowd when she was introduced in the starting lineup and when she was named the game’s second star, an appreciation of her time in the city.
“They were very kind,” she said, laughing.
Montreal remains tied with Toronto at 30 points, but have played one additional game. Minnesota is third in the league with 27 points and a game in hand as well. Montreal’s next game will be March 17 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh when they look to beat Toronto for the first time this season.
Standings
| TEAM | GP | RW | OW | OL | RL | PTS | GF | GA | MAX PTS | MAGIC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TOR | 16 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 30 | 43 | 34 | 54 | 15 |
| MTL | 17 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 30 | 41 | 40 | 51 | 15 |
| MIN | 16 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 27 | 34 | 32 | 51 | 18 |
| BOS | 15 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 20 | 33 | 38 | 47 | 25 |
| OTT | 16 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 20 | 41 | 44 | 44 | – |
| NY | 16 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 17 | 35 | 37 | 41 | – |
Notes
– Prior to the game, Montreal announced that they signed forward Mikyla Grant-Mentis to their reserve roster. The team had two reserve spots freed up as both Catherine Dubois and Alex Poznikoff have been signed to standard contracts due to two players on LTIR (Dominika Lásková and Kennedy Marchment).
Grant-Mentis is a former PHF Most Valuable Player, who was released by Ottawa earlier in the season. She had three assists in six games this season.
“She’s a good player and has the skills to be on a team in this league,” said Cheverie. “For us, the reserve list is an important role. We’ve activated all of our reserve players and she made a lot of sense.”
– Cheverie was also very happy with the play of the fourth line of Jillian Dempsey, Catherine Dubois, and Alex Poznikoff. They played close to 10 minutes, almost all of it at even strength.
“I really liked Dempsey’s line,” she said. “They were energy every time they were on the ice so that was great to see. There were sparks all throughout our lineup, it is just about getting everybody sparked at the same time.”
– Montreal will have two days off after a stretch of three games in five days and four games in eight days. They went 2-2 in those four games, with all games ending in regulation. They will get back to practice on Wednesday and prepare for their game in Pittsburgh against Toronto.
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