Toronto 2 – Montreal 1 | The blue beast

At this point, we can say that the Montreal team has a pet peeve. Or rather a blue beast.

We are talking here about the Toronto team, to the great despair of Quebec hockey fans, which once again defeated Montreal, this time 2-1, Sunday, at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.

Kori Cheverie’s squad has not yet found a way to beat its great rival in four clashes this season, including two in the last week.

This setback was also the third in a row for the Montreal team. This is the first time she has gone through such a series of defeats this season. Result: she slipped to 3^e rank in the standings, three points behind Toronto and Minnesota.

If Toronto is the team of the hour in the LPHF with 10 consecutive victories, it is not for nothing. From the start of the match, Troy Ryan’s players were everywhere, applying pressure, spinning around the opposing zone without much difficulty. They were aggressive in the corners of the ice and moved the puck efficiently. The Montrealers tried as best they could to follow the play in their zone.

Montreal’s recent results necessarily have a link to do with the absence of Marie-Philip Poulin, the Montreal clan’s best player and scorer this season. The captain did not play the match “for preventive measures”, just like Ann-Sophie Bettez.

Other attackers tried to fill the big void left by the two veterans; Laura Stacey was, without question or surprise, the best player on the ice for Montreal. It was her work along the boards in the middle of the first period that allowed Kristin O’Neill to score her first goal of the season with a very precise shot into the top of the net. This shot, which occurred at the 13^e minute of play, was Montreal’s first…

The Montreal team found its means after tying the score, but Toronto regained the lead midway through the second period, when Flanagan scored without an angle. The puck slipped between Desbiens’ shoulder and the left post.

Montreal had a few good chances to tie the score in the third period. She also benefited from a numerical advantage in the final minutes, but she was not able to establish herself in the enemy zone. It’s in situations like this that the team sorely misses Captain Clutch.

Any changes coming?

So, what will the Montreal team have to do to defeat its beast at the Bell Center on April 20 and, perhaps, in the playoffs?

This is one of the questions we would have liked to ask Kori Cheverie after the match, but it was not made available to the media who were covering the game remotely as is normally the case.

The LPHF trading deadline is Monday at 4 p.m. Will Danièle Sauvageau be tempted to make a change to her defense, which is sometimes a little too shaky? Or her attack, who could benefit from a player capable of finding the back of the net?

In interview with The Presslast week, the general director admitted to finding it difficult to “even think about trading someone”, she who has, all her life, “tried to offer players an environment in which to play”.

Since general managers cannot trade draft picks at this time, it must be players only. Exchanges must therefore, necessarily, be “win-win”, said Sauvageau. “It’s not so much who we want to pick up, it’s who we don’t want to let go,” she added.

The picture can always change, but Montreal is currently in a good position to participate in the playoffs. With six games left in the season, let’s say she will have to get back to winning ways sooner rather than later. For that, a quick return from Poulin would not do any harm.

Coming back to the Toronto women, what better time than the game at the Bell Center to finally get the better of them?

To be continued…