Thanks to three power play goals, the Montreal team defeated the Minnesota team 4-3 on Thursday in a Professional Women’s Hockey League (LPHF) match played at the Verdun Auditorium.
It was the first time that Montreal scored more than one power play goal in the same game.
Kristin O’Neill scored the first and last goals of the game for Montreal. Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey also found the back of the net and Elaine Chuli blocked 25 shots.
Grace Zumwinkle, Kelly Pannek and Brooke Bryant scored for Minnesota. Maddie Rooney stopped 33 shots for her team.
Action resumed in the LPHF, after a break for the Women’s World Hockey Championship, won by Canada.
The two teams had not played a match since March 24, when Minnesota defeated Montreal in a shootout, 3-2.
It was the start of the home stretch of this first regular season of the LPHF, with 15 games still to be played on the schedule.
After winning gold with Canada, Poulin returned to the Montreal team’s lineup. She had missed her team’s last three games due to injury.
Forward Ann-Sophie Bettez, however, was placed on the long-term injured list.
Ninth goal for Poulin
Chuli had to be alert from the first minute of play. The Minnesota squad applied pressure quickly, but Chuli followed the puck well to block a shot that deflected in front of her.
Montreal took advantage of the game’s first power play at 13:37 when Brittyn Fleming sent the puck into the stands.
O’Neill made Fleming pay almost a minute later. At 12:38, the forward, who was stationed to the left of the net, headed a shot and collected her own putback before Rooney was able to stop the puck.
With a few minutes left in the period, Minnesota got its first good sequence in the offensive zone since the first minute of the game.
After two good saves from Chuli and a successful clearance from the Montreal team, the visitors shot themselves in the foot by being punished again.
Poulin completed a superb three-way passing play to thread the needle with 2:08 remaining in the first period. Erin Ambrose and Stacey set the table for Poulin’s goal.
It was Poulin’s ninth goal this season.
Mikyla Grant-Mentis received two penalties in the first four minutes of play in the second period.
The Minnesota team took advantage of the forward’s second penalty when Zumwinkle hit the target at 15:01 of play. Zumwinkle scored with a slap shot from the right faceoff circle.
Stuck in its territory for a while, Montreal saw Pannek redirect a point shot past Chuli and tie the score at 9:23 of the second period.
Bryant then completed a beautiful pass from Taylor Heise during a surplus to give his team the lead for the first time in the match, less than two minutes later.
Chuli kept the score at 3-2 after 40 minutes, making a big pad save with 30 seconds left in the second period. Minnesota went three players against one in the offensive zone, but Chuli came out of her semi-circle to challenge the throw.
Montreal was the more threatening team in the third period. The Montreal squad’s shots, however, often lacked precision or were easy to capture for Rooney, who was little hampered in his work.
Montreal pulled Chuli in favor of an extra attacker with less than three minutes remaining in regulation. Stacey tied the score with a powerful one-timer with 2:23 remaining.
It was Stacey’s seventh goal this season.
O’Neill then brought the crowd to its feet with 45 seconds left, scoring his second of the game, again on the power play.