After two straight first-round exits in the PWHL playoffs and a 1-6 overall playoff record, the Montreal Victoire entered last off-season with a goal to become more playoff ready and that meant shoring up their depth, which they did by signing a veteran group of players and adding them to an existing core.
It hasn’t always gone as planned for the Victoire. Out of the 20 games they have played this season, only five have had the luxury of having every player available for selection due to injuries or suspension. It seems like that problem will only get worse. 2024 PWHL defender of the year Erin Ambrose is still on long-term injured reserve, and now captain Marie-Philip Poulin is out again after re-aggravating her lower-body injury first suffered at the Olympics. Maureen Murphy, an original Victoire member in her third season, left Thursday’s game with an injury of her own.
The team doesn’t seem phased. Even though the team was coming off of a tough loss to the Boston Fleet on Sunday, where they blew a 3-0 third period lead in an overtime loss, the team defeated the last-place Seattle Torrent 4-1 on Thursday to move into a three-way tie for top spot in the PWHL with 10 games remaining.
Laura Stacey had two goals and an assist in the win on a new-look first line without Poulin. Catherine Dubois scored her first goal of the season, having moved to the top line in Poulin’s absence, just two games after being a healthy scratch as the team’s 14th forward. Abby Roque continued her strong play, with two assists to move into a tie with Poulin for the team scoring lead.
Montreal’s depth continued to shine outside of the top line. Skylar Irving, who was a healthy scratch on Sunday and moved into the 13th forward role due to Poulin’s injury, had to replace the injured Murphy on the team’s third line with Hayley Scamurra and Dara Greig. Irving just happened to score her second goal of the season.
It was a big goal, too, coming just 1:04 after Alex Carpenter scored to make the score 2-1 in the third period.
“Obviously Erin and Pou are irreplaceable,” said Stacey. “We didn’t need anything magial. We didn’t need anybody to do anything crazy. We just needed everybody to be the best version of themselves and I think that’s what you saw for most of tonight.”
As for the mindset of getting ready for the playoffs, the team knows that even in wins, they have a lot of work to do and the standard is as high as it ever has been.
“We’re happy with the win, but we’re constantly going to be focusing on the habits and the details of every single shift that lead us to a win,” said head coach Kori Cheverie. “In the last five minutes, we probably had too many turnovers. We’re not worried about the win, we’re worried about cleaning up those turnovers so we that we can continue to press the opposition so that we cannot even allow them to pull their goalie.”
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