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Victoire vs. Sirens recap & highlights: Six goal outburst leads Montreal to sixth straight win

Posted on by Jared Book
Marie-Philip Poulin and Ann-Renée Desbiens celebrate. (Photo by Laurent Corbeil/PWHL)

After not playing together for 12 days, it would be normal to wonder how the Montreal Victoire would start their next game. The answer was their best period of the season, becoming the first PWHL team ever to score four goals in the first period. The 4-0 lead turned into a 6-2 win in front of a sold out Place Bell on Saturday afternoon against the New York Sirens.

The win was Montreal’s sixth straight win, as they extend their lead atop the PWHL standings.

“I give Montreal a lot of credit,” said New York head coach Greg Fargo. “They came out to start the game like it was a playoff game and we weren’t ready for it […] They punched us right in the face to start the game. It was not just the four goals, but how they did it.”

The Victoire used a mix of winning races to pucks, moving the puck quickly, and winning battles for pucks to take control of the game in the first period. They got the scoring going when Clair Degeorge got the puck behind the net and made a power move to the net before finding Lina Ljungblom in the slot. Ljungblom made no mistake for her second goal of the year.

It was Degeorge’s first point of the season, and Montreal had a 1-0 lead 9:25 into the game.

Just 34 seconds later, more quick passing led to a great chance and a goal. Jennifer Gardiner got the puck to Amanda Boulier, who carried the puck down low. She fed Abby Boreen, who was alone in the slot, and Boreen fired the shot past Corinne Schroeder to make it 2-0 Montreal at the halfway point of the first period.

BOULIER TO BOREEN! 🤯 The @victoire-lphf.bsky.social tally two goals within a minute, with Abby Boreen scoring her sixth goal of the season.

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— PWHL (@thepwhl.com) February 15, 2025 at 2:39 PM

It was Boreen’s sixth goal of the season.

Less than six minutes later, the defence activated again. Cayla Barnes came down low and found Mariah Keopple driving to the back door. The pass was perfect and the shot didn’t miss, and it quickly was 3-0 for the Victoire.

D-Partner teamwork makes the dream work. 🤝 @victoire-lphf.bsky.social's Cayla Barnes sets up Mariah Keopple for her third goal of the season!

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— PWHL (@thepwhl.com) February 15, 2025 at 2:56 PM

It was Keopple’s third goal of the season after she was held without a goal for all 24 games last season.

“We joked on the bench because we were working on something this week and her and Barnes went D to D back door and I said to them, ‘that’s the progression… we didn’t get there yet,'” said Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie. “They’re obviously taking a lot of the things we’re doing and implementing them, but then taking it one step further and having that confidence.”

Then, with under 1:30 remaining in the period, Montreal scored their fourth goal. Boulier’s slap shot from the point was tipped by Ljungblom past Schroeder for her second of the game.

After the game, Ljungblom tried to credit Boulier with the goal, but Boulier insisted it hit a stick in front, to which Ljungblom sheepishly conceded it may have been hers. The goal was originally given to Boulier but changed to Ljungblom.

New York came out into the second period looking to make a statement. After allowing four goals on seven shots in the first period, Schroeder was pulled and replaced by Kayle Osborne.

The Sirens scored twice in the first half of the second period to cut the lead to 4-2. On the power play, Jessie Eldridge found Ella Shelton with a cross-ice feed and Shelton hammered the one-timer past Ann-Renée Desbiens. Less than four minutes later, Eldridge pounced on a loose puck in the blue paint and fired it over an outstretched Desbiens.

Shots at the midway point of the second period were 10-0 for New York and Montreal ended the period with as many shots in the second period as they did goals in the first.

The game could have gotten closer, but didn’t because of the play of Desbiens. She finished the game with 28 saves as she extended her league-leading numbers with her ninth win in 11 starts, and remains top of all qualified goaltenders in goals against average (1.77) and save percentage (.935).

“We let too many shots from point blank occur against Ann,” said Cheverie. “She was on her game tonight.

“She made some crazy saves,” said Boulier. “I think she had a couple of breakaways and two-on-ones, we didn’t make it easy on her but she always has our back. We know that she’s going to make big saves when we make mistakes and I think good teams have goaltending like that.”

Montreal had several chances to put the game out of reach and extend their 4-2 lead in the third period, including two power plays with a 30 second five-on-three advantage, but were unable to capitalize. They did end up pulling away, though.

After being caught in the defensive zone for a shift, the line of Claire Dalton, Alexandra Labelle, and Mikyla Grant-Mentis finally got possession. Dalton took the puck and instead of dumping it in, carried it end to end before finding a trailing Grant-Mentis, who fired a wrist shot past Osborne for her third goal of the season.

“There were some moments during that shift that I wasn’t very happy and it’s one of those moments where I’d be like ‘dump it in’ and then they go and score, obviously,” said Cheverie. “I was happy that they were able to finish that off because I didn’t love the beginning of the shift. We spent too much time in our own zone, but the strong play by Claire to get the puck out […] I was happy. It was almost like, ‘well thank goodness you did that’.”

Just 29 seconds later, fittingly, Gardiner made a beautiful backhand spinning pass on the tape for Marie-Philip Poulin, who created some separation in the slot and made no mistake for her 11th goal of the season, which continues to lead the league.

TWIRL DISH TO THE CAPTAIN! 🌀 @victoire-lphf.bsky.social's Jennifer Gardiner dishes the puck behind her back to Marie-Philip Poulin, who continues to lead the league in goals with her eleventh!

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— PWHL (@thepwhl.com) February 15, 2025 at 4:39 PM

That goal made it 6-2 and was the eventual final score.

Montreal will take their six-game winning streak into another home game on Tuesday when they host the second-place Minnesota Frost at Place Bell.

Notes

  • Prior to the game, New York had Quebec native Emmy Fecteau take the ceremonial face-off against her idol Poulin. It was an idea from Sirens captain Micah Zandee-Hart. The team did something similar when in Toronto they had Jaime Bourbonnais, a Toronto native, take the ceremonial face-off in her first game at Scotiabank Arena.
  • Montreal’s power play went 0/3 while their penalty kill went 3/4.
  • Montreal leads the league in goals per game and goals against per game.
  • Six games extends the franchise record for consecutive wins.

Standings

TEAM GP RW OW SW OL RL PTS GF GA
MTL 15 9 1 2 1 2 34 47 33
MIN 17 5 2 2 3 5 26 50 51
TOR 17 6 1 0 4 6 24 45 48
BOS 15 4 1 2 2 6 20 35 36
OTT 16 6 0 0 2 8 20 35 42
NY 16 4 2 1 2 7 20 39 41

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