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Victoire @ Sirens recap & highlights: Poulin stays hot, scores twice as Montreal win streak hits five

Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice in Montreal's 2-1 win. (Photo by Nala Burton/The PWHL)

Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice and Ann-Renée Desbiens made 23 saves as the Montreal Victoire won their fifth straight game 2-1 over the New York Sirens at the Prudential Center in New Jersey on Sunday afternoon.

It has almost become déja-vu but the recipe for success for Montreal remains their captain and number one goaltender as they extend their lead atop the PWHL standings.

The Victoire will now take their five-game winning streak into the international break as the PWHL stops play for nine days due to the international window which includes the Rivalry Series, European Hockey Tour, and Olympic qualifiers.

“We have a great staff and great players that are leaving and staying in terms of the international break, and so I think everybody is on a mission, that’s for us as a team,” said Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie. “We’ve set some goals that we keep to ourselves, but we know what they are. We are preparing our players that are staying in Montreal and the players playing for their respective countries will be focused on that, but when they come back, they’ll be excited to see each other again. It’s a very close group, and there’s a lot of love in that group.”

“For us as a team, it’s our third game in a short amount of time, and to come out here, get three points, to go home, to go on a break, it was pretty significant,” said Desbiens. “We’re really happy with the effort and how we’re able to battle through everything and just keep going.”

Poulin opened the scoring 34 seconds into the second period when she took an Abby Boreen pass, went one-on-three in the New York zone, beat all three and put a backhand shot past Kayle Osborne.

She doubled the Montreal lead exactly four minutes later when Boreen found her flying down the left wing, and she wired a snap shot over Osborne’s shoulder and bar down.

The 🐐 leaves us speechless… TWICE. 😱 Adding two back-to-back goals, @victoire-lphf.bsky.social's Marie-Philip Poulin ties Natalie Spooner for all-time leading goals with twenty!

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— PWHL (@thepwhl.com) February 2, 2025 at 2:38 PM

That goal gave her 10 on the season, three more than any other PWHL player. It also matches her total from a year ago (in 14 games rather than 21 last year) and her 20 career goals ties her for the PWHL all-time record with Natalie Spooner, who has yet to play this season due to a lower-body injury suffered during last year’s playoffs.

It was an eventful second period for Poulin, as she also took a five-minute major penalty for charging when she laid a big hit on Sirens forward Jade Downie-Landry. Downie-Landry briefly left the bench but returned to the game. The major penalty did not come with a game misconduct, and New York only managed one shot on the power play. Montreal’s penalty kill went 3/3 on the afternoon.

New York cut the lead to 2-1 when Ally Simpson broke in on the right wing and fired a shot that got past Desbiens’ glove with 6:07 remaining. It was Simpson’s first PWHL goal.

That was as close as the Sirens got. They pulled the goaltender with around two minutes remaining, but Desbiens was as solid as she has been all season. She is also on a five-game personal winning streak and her eight wins this season surpasses her total from the entire 2024 season.

Her 1.77 goals against average and .935 save percentage are both leading the league among goaltenders with at least five games played.

With the international break, Montreal will not play again until February 15 when they host New York at Place Bell.

Notes:

  • Catherine Dubois left the game in the third period when she collided with a New York player. It appeared to be an upper-body injury and she did not return. The team did not have an official update as she will need further evaluation. They say she was removed for precautionary reasons.
  • Montreal made two lineup changes from their last game against Toronto, as Anna Kjellbin returned to the lineup as the seventh defender, and forward Clair DeGeorge sat out. The other change was in goal as Desbiens made the start.
  • The Victoire turned their three games in five days into eight of a possible nine points.
  • Kori Cheverie made some changes to her forward lines as she tried to find the right combination. Kristin O’Neill played with Dara Greig and Laura Stacey, while the fourth line was Lina Ljungblom, Maureen Murphy (at C), and Catherine Dubois. The lines of Jennifer Gardiner, Poulin, and Boreen and Mikyla Grant-Mentis, Alexandra Labelle, and Claire Dalton stayed intact.

Standings

TEAM GP RW OW SW OL RL PTS GF GA
MTL 14 8 1 2 1 2 31 41 31
MIN 15 5 2 2 2 4 25 45 40
NY 14 4 2 1 2 5 20 37 31
TOR 15 5 0 0 4 6 19 39 45
BOS 13 3 1 2 2 5 17 30 33
OTT 15 5 0 0 2 8 17 27 39

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