Maureen Murphy scored her first goal of the season at 3:30 of the overtime period and the Montreal team defeated Ottawa 2-1 in front of a crowd of 8,646 spectators at Place Bell, the largest for a professional women’s hockey game played in Canada.
After Kati Tabin fired a backhand shot from a tight angle, Murphy collected the puck in the slot and beat Emerance Maschmeyer with a shot into the upper part of the net.
Laura Stacey, in the first period, scored Montreal’s other goal, her 4th of the season.
Hayley Scamurra, in the third period, deceived the vigilance of Ann-Renée Desbiens, who delivered an absolutely remarkable performance.
For a fourth consecutive match, the Kori Cheverie players were largely dominated by their rivals.
The number of shots on goal, 44 to 24 in favor of Ottawa, clearly demonstrates the superiority of the visitors. Had it not been for Desbiens, Montreal would never have been in the game.
The crowd also showed its approval of Desbiens’ work by giving her a warm hand of applause when the goalkeeper’s smiling face appeared in close-up on the scoreboard during the break leading into overtime.
The Montreal team played this match in the absence of Teresa Vanisova, one of its best players so far this season.
The Czech striker missed the team’s training session on Friday in Verdun. General manager Danièle Sauvageau then mentioned that Vanisova had undergone a treatment session, and her comments suggested that she was going to take part in the game against Ottawa.
The Montreal team will make its next outing on Sunday, February 4 when it will visit the Boston team.
Dubois gets noticed
In the absence of Vanisova, Cheverie chose to place Catherine Dubois alongside Poulin and Maureen Murphy, another of the team’s most productive attackers.
On a few occasions in the first half of the opening period, Dubois made his imposing presence felt in front of the Maschmeyer net.
Dubois also stood out for less good reasons in the second half of the period, receiving two minor penalties in a little over two minutes.
The first, taken in the offensive zone, came to interrupt a numerical superiority 37 seconds after an infraction reported against Amanda Boulier.
Barely back on the ice, Dubois was punished again, this time for having given Emily Clark a hard time, deep in the Montreal zone.
Not only did the Montreal team hold on, they nearly gave themselves a 2-0 lead early in the middle period.
Stacey was awarded a penalty shot when Jincy Roese tripped her as the Montreal forward appeared alone in front of Maschmeyer.
Shaken by Stacey’s fall, which sent the Ottawa goalkeeper into her net, Maschmeyer stayed in the game and made her best save of the game so far, using her glove.
For Maschmeyer, it was a mini-revenge against Stacey. The Ontarian opened the scoring with a little over six minutes remaining in the first period, beating the Ottawa goalkeeper after speeding around the net.
If the Montreal team managed to maintain its 1-0 lead after the first 40 minutes of play, it owed a lot to Desbiens.
The goalkeeper from La Malbaie often calmed the game behind her teammates who were often overwhelmed and in difficulty in their territory, particularly in the second period.
The visitors were finally able to tie the score thanks to Scamurra, who found the back of the net on a shot that slipped between the right arm and the body of Desbiens, during a power play, at 6:10 of the third period.
Montreal had some good moments in overtime and had a good chance to win when Dubois appeared alone in front of Maschmeyer but her shot missed the target.
But Murphy was going to fix it.