Post-Game Press Conference video will be uploaded to PWHL YouTube
LAVAL, QC (Nov. 30, 2024) - Marie-Philip Poulin lived up to her Captain Clutch nickname, scoring the winning goal in a hard-fought 4-3 Montréal Victoire shootout win over the Ottawa Charge in front of 10,033 loud fans at Place Bell. Down 2-0 in the middle of the second period, Montréal tied it after Abigail Boreen and Laura Stacey finally put pucks behind Emerance Maschmeyer. Jennifer Gardiner scored Montréal’s third goal in the middle of the third, tying the game and forcing overtime. This marks the second straight season that Montréal has opened the season with a win beyond regulation against Ottawa.
QUOTES
Montréal Victoire Head Coach Kori Cheverie on the Montréal faithful: “The fans didn’t disappoint. It was loud in there. I couldn’t talk on the bench sometimes, but we want them to keep that up.”
Montréal defender Erin Ambrose explained that there is no quit on this squad, even trailing by two in the second period. “Honestly, I don’t even think you would have been able to tell we were down 2-0 at that moment based on how we were on the bench. I looked up and after they scored their second goal, I saw that they had 10 shots, including the two goals that we put on or in the net, so they had 8 and it’s halfway through the second and we had done a lot of good things. We didn’t waiver at all and it was pretty impressive for us in our first game to not go off script at all and to stay the course.”
Charge goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer on her 42-save night and stopping Marie-Philip Poulin on a breakaway with 10 seconds left in overtime: “It’s classic Pou that she would get an opportunity with seconds to go, but there’s nothing better. I’m sure that’s what the crowd wanted to see. What better challenge to go against her. I hope she thinks I’m a challenge too.”
Ottawa Head Coach Carla MacLeod on the No Escape Rule at the start of the penalty kill: “You just have to live with it. It’s the seven penalty kills to two that was a bigger challenge for us tonight. I think the no escape rule is doing what the league intended. They want to generate more shots. I’m good with it.”
NOTABLES
Montréal was the only PWHL team not to record a shootout win last season, going 0-3. This was their fourth straight game to go to overtime counting the 2024 PWHL Playoffs.
This was the third time Marie-Philip Poulin shot multiple times in a shootout. She previously went 1-for-4 against Toronto on Jan. 20 and 0-for-2 against New York on Feb. 21.
Ottawa entered the game 1-for-3 in shootouts during the inaugural season and had an additional four overtime losses, missing out on a league-high six extra point situations.
Ottawa’s second overall pick Danielle Serdachny became the first member of the 2024 draft class to score her first career goal with her parents from Edmonton in attendance. Her second period snipe was assisted by the team’s second round pick Ronja Savolainen who recorded her first career point.
Montréal third round pick Abby Boreen tied a career-high with a goal and an assist in her first game with the Victoire. Last season, she served as a Minnesota reserve and had four goals and one assist in nine games.
Montréal’s first three draft picks connected for the game-tying goal on the power play. Second rounder Jennifer Gardiner scored her first career PWHL goal, assisted by first round pick Cayla Barnes and Boreen.
In addition to Serdachny and Savolainen, Ottawa draft picks Stephanie Markowski, Mannon McMahon and Anna Meixner all made their official PWHL debuts. Montréal had six draft picks play in their first career PWHL games including Barnes, Gardiner, Dara Greig, Anna Wilgren and Anna Kjellbin, and 2023 pick Lina Ljungblom.
Four players suited up for their first games with their new teams after signing free agent contracts including Clair DeGeorge (MTL via MIN), Alexandra Labelle (MTL via NY), Rebecca Leslie (OTT via TOR) and Alexa Vasko (OTT via TOR).
Both power plays picked up where they left off in the inaugural season. Montréal scored twice with the advantage in their last game of the season and twice on the PP tonight. Ottawa led the PWHL with a 25% success rate last year and scored on one of their three opportunities.
Laura Stacey scored Montréal’s first goal on the power play after tallying three times with the advantage last season. She also led tonight’s game with seven shots on goal.
Tereza Vanišová scored Ottawa’s power play goal – her first goal as a member of the Charge in seven games since her trade from Montréal last March.
Emerance Maschmeyer faced a personal high in the PWHL with 45 shots against, while also setting a personal best with 42 saves, plus an additional four in the shootout. She led all goaltenders last season with 599 saves.
Montréal’s 45 shots are a new team-high for a regular season game, and their 19 first period shots are the most ever in the opening frame in PWHL history.
Montréal became the second straight PWHL team to win their home opener in 2024-25, following Toronto’s 3-1 win over Boston earlier in the day. Last season, PWHL teams were 1-5 in home openers, with Minnesota picking up the only victory.
SCORESHEET RECAP
Ottawa 1 2 0 0 - 3
Montréal 0 2 1 0 – 4
1st Period-1, Ottawa, Clark 1 7:49. Penalties-Scamurra Ott (tripping), 14:15; Serdachny Ott (interference), 18:02; Poulin Mtl (body checking), 19:51.
2nd Period-2, Ottawa, Serdachny 1 (Savolainen, Hughes), 2:20. 3, Montréal, Boreen 1 (Grant-Mentis), 5:35. 4, Montréal, Stacey 1 (Ambrose, O'Neill), 11:28 (PP). 5, Ottawa, Vanišová 1 (Tejralová), 17:28 (PP). Penalties-Mrázová Ott (boarding), 10:44; Leslie Ott (holding), 13:24; Labelle Mtl (slashing), 16:19.
3rd Period-6, Montréal, Gardiner 1 (Barnes, Boreen), 11:20 (PP). Penalties-Darkangelo Ott (tripping), 4:43; Vanišová Ott (boarding), 10:16; Boreen Mtl (holding), 13:15; Scamurra Ott (holding), 13:53.
1st OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties
Shootout - Ottawa 0 (Scamurra NG, Mrázová NG, Serdachny NG, Vanišová NG, Mrázová NG), Montréal 1 (Poulin NG, Grant-Mentis NG, Stacey NG, Ambrose NG, Poulin G).
Shots on Goal-Ottawa 9-10-10-3-0-32. Montréal 19-17-8-1-1-46.
Power Play Opportunities-Ottawa 1 / 3; Montréal 2 / 7.
Goalies-Ottawa, Maschmeyer 0-0-0-1 (45 shots-42 saves). Montréal, Desbiens 1-0-0-0 (32 shots-29 saves).
A-10,033
THREE STARS
Marie-Philip Poulin (MTL) SOWG
Emerance Maschmeyer (OTT) 42 SAVES
Laura Stacey (MTL) 1G
STANDINGS
Montréal (0-1-0-0) – 2 PTS – 2nd Place
Ottawa (0-0-1-0) – 1 PTS – 3rd Place
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Ottawa: Tuesday, December 3 vs. Toronto
Montréal: Wednesday, December 4 vs. New York