The Montreal team ensured its qualification for the first playoff series in the history of the Professional Women’s Hockey League thanks to a 5-2 victory against the New York team, in front of a packed house of 3,232 spectators, Wednesday evening at Verdun Auditorium.
Kristin O’Neill (1-1) and Erin Ambrose (0-2) led the Montreal offense with two points each.
Catherine Daoust, in the first period, Catherine Dubois and Laura Stacey also thwarted Corinne Schroeder, who made 20 saves.
Mélodie Daoust added one last goal into an empty net, with 83 seconds on the clock.
Ella Shelton and Quebecer Alexandra Labelle were the scorers for New York against Ann-Renée Desbiens, who faced 32 shots.
With its victory, Montreal (9-3-5-5) totals 38 points, the same number as Toronto, which however played one game less. For its part, New York was officially excluded from the playoffs.
The Montreal team completes its first season at home with a record of 6-1-2-3 for a total of 23 points, out of a possible 36.
Montreal will finish the regular schedule with games in Ottawa, this Saturday at 12:30 p.m., and in Boston, Saturday, May 4.
Smoking Desbiens
It’s clear that New York’s team was fully aware that they were fighting for survival, as they battled with the energy of desperation for the first 20 minutes of play.
They forced the game and their work allowed them to benefit from three numerical superiorities, thanks to which they largely dominated in shots on goal, 14-6.
And this total does not include the six shots blocked by so many Montreal players.
But on the scoreboard, it was Montreal which held a fragile 1-0 lead mainly because Desbiens made numerous spectacular saves.
She notably shone against Alex Carpenter and Jamie Bourbonnais, in the latter case when Desbiens had lost his stick, during a numerical inferiority.
The only goal of the period was the result of a completely harmless shot from Daoust with just under seven minutes remaining.
By wanting to use the bay window to push the disc deep into the opposing zone, Daoust instead saw his shot bifurcate strangely into the net, which Schroeder had mechanically abandoned to stop the puck behind his goal.
The Montrealers rectified the situation in the second period, and they did it with panache. First, they spent three times less time in the penalty box than during the first 20 minutes.
Also, they were much more incisive in attack to the point of overtaking their rivals in terms of shots on goal and scoring three goals in just over five minutes.
O’Neill first pounced on the return of his own shot to make it 2-0, on a power play, at 9:10. Dubois followed up some three minutes later and Stacey completed the backfire at 14:46.
Shelton, however, spoiled a small part of the pleasure that Montreal fans could feel by scoring on a breakaway, with 12.2 seconds remaining in the middle period.
The New York team tried everything to get back into the match in the third period, even going so far as to remove Schroeder in favor of a sixth attacker during a penalty to Mariah Keopple, with more than 15 minutes to play.
The Montreal defensive brigade held on.
Labelle gave New York hope by scoring shorthanded with 4:19 to play, but it was too little, too late even pulling out Schroeder with less than four minutes to play.