Best of Five series, Game 1
Place Bell
Start time: 7:00 PM ET / 4:00 PM PT
In Canada: TSN (English), RDS (French)
In the United States (Regional): Bally Sports North, MSG2
Streaming: YouTube, Women’s Sports Network
Playoff hockey returns to Montreal and Place Bell as Montreal hosts Boston in Game 1 of the PWHL Semifinal. It will be the first professional women’s hockey playoff game in the city since 2019 and the first professional hockey playoff game at Place Bell since the 2021-22 Laval Rocket playoff run.
| Montreal | Statistics (Reg. Season) | Boston |
|---|---|---|
| 10-3-5-6 | Record (W-OTW-OTL-L) | 8-3-4-9 |
| 2.50 (3rd) | Goals per game | 2.08 (6th) |
| 2.38 (T-3rd) | Goals against per game | 2.38 (T-3rd) |
| 15.9% (3rd) | PP% | 7.5% (6th) |
| 84.0% (4th) | PK% | 80.0% (5th) |
| 1-1-1-1 | Head-to-Head Record | 1-1-1-1 |
Boston has electric offensive talent up and down the roster which makes them being last in goals-per-game and power play confusing, but that’s also why they were closer to the playoff bubble than to home-ice advantage. They have started to score after the international break, winning four of their five games including the season finale against Montreal to clinch a playoff spot.
Knight vs. Poulin
There are a lot of great players on both sides, but let’s be real. The two captains steal the show, whether they want to or not. Two of the greatest hockey players of all time have a lot of shared history. They have been opponents dating back to the 2009 World Championship, and were even teammates during the 2018-19 CWHL season with Les Canadiennes. They also trained in Montreal for the 2019-20 season while playing in the PWHPA.
The two have great respect for each other, and both have a real knack for coming up big in big games. Believe it or not, for as long as their careers have been, this will be the first professional playoff game both will play in at the same time (Poulin missed the entire 2018-19 playoffs with a knee injury, and while she was dressed for the Clarkson Cup final she did not play a shift).
Given their statures in the game, it’s a truly historic moment on top of it being a huge battle in the first PWHL playoffs. The two will surely be in the Hockey Hall of Fame as soon as they are eligible.
“Over the years I’ve had a front seat to see how much she can be a game changer in those big games,” Poulin said about Knight. “You can see it in her eyes, you can see how much of a competitor she is and that’s why I appreciate it so much when you play hard against somebody for so long. There’s so much respect, obviously there’s going to be times you’re going to win and times you’re going to lose but it’s how you do it. We both want to win, both teams want to win.”
“I have a big passion for living in that city and representing Montreal,” Knight said. “Playoff hockey is a different beast, whether that means being booed or whatever that looks like, that fan engagement with people showing up for playoffs. It’s extremely exciting to keep that rivalry going, being now on the Boston side again. It’s one of the better rivalries in pro sports, especially in hockey.”
Frankel vs Desbiens
The Canada-USA rivalry doesn’t just extend to the team’s captains, but also the two expected starting goaltenders. Aerin Frankel and Ann-Renée Desbiens were the starting goaltenders in the 2024 World Championship gold medal game, and while that ended up being a high-scoring affair, it wouldn’t be fair to pin it on either goaltender.
Frankel is one of the main reasons that Boston made the post-season despite not scoring many goals. She had a 8-6-2 record with a 2.00 goals against average and .929 save percentage.
Desbiens didn’t have the season many expected of her. She admitted herself that the World Championships allowed her to find her game as the transition to a pro league for the first time and playing behind a different team than she was used to with Team Canada forced an adjustment. She had a 7-5-2 record with 2.28 goals against average and .923 save percentage.
She also has the ability to step up in big games. She says that she doesn’t do anything differently but the urgency and adrenaline might factor into the clutch performances.
Montreal’s X-Factor
Jillian Dempsey is known as the face of Boston women’s hockey. She played 10 years professionally for the Boston Blades and Boston Pride, grew up and lives in nearby Winthrop, named the Boston Bruins mascot (seriously), and played NCAA hockey at Harvard.
It was a shock to her, the city of Boston, and the entire women’s hockey world when she was drafted by Montreal. She signed a one-year contract and has mostly played a fourth line role for the team. Both the city and the role is something that needed an adjustment. Just a year ago, she was among the top scorers in the PHF, and was the league’s all-time leading scorer. She had just one goal and three assists in 24 games, but playoff hockey is an experience-driven journey and over a five-game series it’s often a team’s depth that wins them games and series.
Dempsey is a player who can be relied on defensively, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Montreal’s bottom-six chip in offensively. Over the series, they may need them to.
She is an unapologetic Boston fan (much to the chagrin of the Maple Leafs fans in the Montreal locker room, but Dempsey assured the media she did not rub it in, even when the Bruins were up 3-1… see… experience). She also looks at being on the Montreal side of things differently than you might think.
“It’s very bizarre,” Dempsey admitted. “I’ve always been Boston over everybody my whole life. This is my team this year. I want for us to come out on top. It’s a weird situation but I’ve never played for that Boston team before, I have nothing there… And [going there for road games] doesn’t even feel like Boston. Every time we go I’m like ‘it’s Lowell, guys, it’s not Boston,” she said.
Dempsey is one of four players to have played in the last Montreal-Boston women’s hockey playoff meeting, the 2015 Clarkson Cup. Boston’s Knight and Kaleigh Fratkin played for Boston, while Ann-Sophie Bettez (who is out injured) played for Montreal. Montreal’s team also included current coaches Noémie Marin and Caroline Ouellette.
Boston’s X-Factor
For the fourth straight playoff series, Montreal will be facing a team with Jamie Lee Rattray on it. Dating back to the 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19 CWHL seasons, Rattray and the Thunder met Les Canadiennes, and she happens to be on Boston’s roster yet again.
One of the biggest goals in Montreal women’s hockey playoff hockey history was scored by Rattray, as she scored an shorthanded goal – in overtime – to win Game 1 of the 2018 CWHL semifinal. Markham went on to sweep the series and win the Clarkson Cup.
Rattray always shows up in big games, and has always been a thorn in the side of Montreal teams.
She did leave the last game between the two teams after taking a hit from Sarah Lefort. She didn’t return, and her status is unknown at this point. If she plays, she provides scoring depth for this team and could be a factor in turning the series in her team’s favour. If she doesn’t play, she’s a huge loss for an experienced Boston side.
Injury troubles for both teams
No PWHL team has used Long Term Injured Reserve as much as these two teams. Montreal has three players currently on LTIR, and all three (Bettez, Kennedy Marchment, and Dominika Lásková) have been ruled out of the playoffs. Sarah Bujold is not on LTIR but remains day-to-day and her status is up in the air. Montreal does have Mélodie Daoust, who can be signed to a standard contract for one of the two playoff series available should Bujold or anyone else not be able to play. Other reserves include Brooke Stacey and Liliane Perreault.
Boston has questions as well. Taylor Girard was placed on LTIR before the season finale and was replaced by Kelly Babstock. Loren Gabel, one of the better shooters in the league, has been out since before the international break and placed on LTIR. She seems to have a better chance to play in the series, but hasn’t played since her injury.
Previous Montreal-Boston games
January 13, 2024 – Boston 3 @ Montreal 2 [OT] (Recap | Highlights)
Verdun Auditorium
Winning goaltender: Aerin Frankel
Losing goaltender: Ann-Renée Desbiens
Goals: Erin Ambrose, Laura Stacey (MTL), Taylor Girard, Hannah Brandt, Amanda Pelkey [OT] (BOS)
February 4, 2024 – Montreal 2 @ Boston 1 [OT] (Recap | Highlights)
Tsongas Center
Winning goaltender: Elaine Chuli
Losing goaltender: Aerin Frankel
Goals: Erin Ambrose, Laura Stacey [OT] (MTL), Sophie Shirley (BOS)
March 2, 2024 – Boston 1 @ Montreal 3 (Recap | Highlights)
Verdun Auditorium
Winning goaltender: Ann-Renée Desbiens
Losing goaltender: Aerin Frankel
Goals: Marie-Philip Poulin, Mélodie Daoust, Erin Ambrose (MTL), Hilary Knight (BOS)
May 4, 2024 – Montreal 3 @ Boston 4 (Recap | Highlights)
Tsongas Center
Winning goaltender: Aerin Frankel
Losing goaltender: Ann-Renée Desbiens
Goals: Mikyla Grant-Mentis (2), Marie-Philip Poulin (MTL), Hilary Knight, Alina Müller, Megan Keller, Kaleigh Fratkin (BOS)
Montreal potential lineup
| FORWARDS | ||
|---|---|---|
| 43 KRISTIN O’NEILL | 29 MARIE-PHILIP POULIN | 7 LAURA STACEY |
| 18 MIKYLA GRANT-MENTIS | 15 MAUREEN MURPHY | 42 CLAIRE DALTON |
| 16 SARAH LEFORT | 8 GABRIELLE DAVID | 25 MÉLODIE DAOUST |
| 28 CATHERINE DUBOIS | 14 JILLIAN DEMPSEY | 12 LEAH LUM |
| 17 ALEX POZNIKOFF | ||
| DEFENDERS | ||
| 9 KATI TABIN | 23 ERIN AMBROSE | |
| 2 MARIAH KEOPPLE | 44 AMANDA BOULIER | |
| 6 MADISON BIZAL | 4 CATHERINE DAOUST | |
| GOALTENDERS | ||
| 35 ANN-RENÉE DESBIENS | ||
| 20 ELAINE CHULI |
Extras: G 1 Marlène Boissonnault, D 10 Brigitte Laganière, F 24 Ann-Sophie Bettez (LTIR), D 96 Dominika Lásková (LTIR), F 22 Kennedy Marchment (LTIR)
Boston potential lineup
| FORWARDS | ||
|---|---|---|
| 11 ALINA MÜLLER | 88 SUSANNA TAPANI | 37 TERESA SCHAFZAHL |
| 47 JAMIE LEE RATTRAY | 20 HANNAH BRANDT | 21 HILARY KNIGHT |
| 77 NICOLE KOSTA | 8 LEXIE ADZIJA | 9 SOPHIE SHIRLEY |
| 12 TAYLOR WENCZKOWSKI | 19 GIGI MARVIN | 16 AMANDA PELKEY |
| 55 KELLY BABSTOCK | ||
| DEFENDERS | ||
| 5 MEGAN KELLER | 2 EMILY BROWN | |
| 22 JESSICA DIGIROLAMO | 13 KALEIGH FRATKIN | |
| 97 JESS HEALEY | 7 SIDNEY MORIN | |
| GOALTENDERS | ||
| 31 AERIN FRANKEL | ||
| 30 EMMA SÖDERBERG |
Extras: G 35 Cami Kronish, D 18 Abby Cook, F 17 Taylor Girard (LTIR), F 36 Loren Gabel (LTIR)
