After a sterling first half that saw the Montreal Victoire lose only three games, the Victoire have now lost two games in a row to start the second half of their 30-game season after a 3-1 loss to the Ottawa Charge on Saturday afternoon at TD Place Arena.
With 17 games played, the Victoire still have a five-point lead and sit in first place. They also have two games in hand on Minnesota and Toronto in second place and one game in hand on fourth-place Boston who are a point back of the second-place duo. All three games play on Sunday along with New York, who sits in last place.
“It’s not a huge deal,” said Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie. “We’re going to lose games. A lot of the teams in the league have lost a lot of games so far, we’re just the one that hasn’t lost that many yet. Our group has to look within and find a way to be able to generate a little bit more. I thought we were fully in this game all the way through and had an opportunity to win and it didn’t bounce in our favour.”
Montreal started the game strong, outshooting Ottawa 5-3 to start the game. The Charge fought back, and took over. Over the last 12:56 of the first period, the shots were 9-0 Ottawa, and they also scored the game’s first goal.
Emily Clark found Stephanie Markowski at the side of the net. She took the puck and out-waited Montreal goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens, maneuvered to her backhand and put it in the net. The goal was the rookie’s first career PWHL goal.
Montreal tied the game in the second period on the power play. Claire Dalton turned the puck over and got the puck to Marie-Philip Poulin at the sidewall and she found Laura Stacey at the backdoor, who had an easy tap-in for her fifth goal of the season.
Simplement magnifique
— Victoire de Montréal (@PWHL_Montreal) February 22, 2025
Simply beautiful work here pic.twitter.com/DJh8CS8fiJ
Late in the period, Ottawa re-took the lead. After a Montreal player was knocked off the puck and stayed down injured, the Charge created a two-on-one where Mannon McMahon found Emily Clark and made no mistake for her fifth of the season and her first of two goals on the night, as she added an empty net goal.
Montreal had chances to tie the game, and pushed hard in the third period but were unable to beat Gwyneth Philips, who made 15 saves in the win. The shot count was a bit misleading as most of Montreal’s best chances ended up blocked or missed the net, therefore not counting on the shot clock.
“We discussed that we need to hone our focus more,” said Dalton. “That’s just a focus thing, it’s not how tired you are. I think that’s something we can improve going forward.”
“We did miss some Grade-A chances, whether it was over the net, whether it got blocked, or whether we didn’t win the stick battle quick enough in the blue paint,” said Cheverie. “We had three two-on-ones, so as much as we lost the game 3-1, it probably could have went the other direction just with the chances generated but we do have to bear down and find a way.”
The Victoire had a late power play with 3:25 remaining to try and tie the game up, but were unable to get the equalizer. Ottawa iced the game with 1:21 left, and Montreal called their timeout to try and make one last push with the goalie pulled. Clark’s second of the game was scored in the empty net with 1:07 left in the game.
Montreal now has a couple of days off before hosting the Toronto Sceptres on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre (7:00 p.m., Amazon Prime [Canada], YouTube [International]).
“In the third [period], we certainly showed the identity that we want to have,” Cheverie said. “That’s the type of intensity with the limited games in our PWHL schedule that every game matters, the three points matter, and every team is looking to get those three points. If we can take our third period and apply it to the Toronto game, we should be in a pretty good spot and we should be able to dictate more.”
Notes
- Montreal seems to have a virus going around the locker room. After Anna Kjellbin and Lina Ljungblom, it was Erin Ambrose who missed Saturday’s game with a virus. Kelly-Ann Nadeau re-entered the lineup after being a healthy scratch against Minnesota on Tuesday.
- Ljungblom also returned after missing one game, she replaced Alexandra Labelle, who the team placed on Long-Term Injured Reserve with an upper-body injury, which means that she will be out of the lineup for at least 21 calendar days.
- The team re-activated 2023 fourth-round pick Dominika Lásková from LTIR in a corresponding roster move to Labelle going on the list. Lásková only played seven games last season before a season-ending injury and appears to be nearing a return. She wasn’t in Saturday’s lineup.
- With the empty net goal allowed, Ann-Renée Desbiens continued her streak of not allowing more than two goals in a game. That streak is now at 10 games. Saturday’s loss was only her third of the season in 12 starts.
Standings
| TEAM | GP | GR | RW | OW | SW | OL | RL | PTS | GF | GA | MAX PTS | MAGIC | TRAGIC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MTL | 17 | 13 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 34 | 48 | 40 | 73 | 25 | 46 |
| TOR | 19 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 29 | 52 | 51 | 62 | 30 | 35 |
| MIN | 19 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 29 | 52 | 55 | 62 | 30 | 35 |
| BOS | 18 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 28 | 46 | 41 | 64 | 31 | 37 |
| OTT | 19 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 25 | 42 | 49 | 58 | 34 | 31 |
| NY | 18 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 20 | 41 | 49 | 56 | 39 | 29 |
Full Highlights
