LAVAL, QC (February 15, 2025) – The Montréal Victoire exploded with four goals in the first period on their way to a 6-2 win over the New York Sirens in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,172 at Place Bell on Saturday afternoon. Montréal extended their winning streak to six games with the victory, while also extending New York’s winless streak to four games. Scoring began halfway into the first period when Lina Ljungblom tallied her first of two goals in the game, and Abby Boreen followed with her tally 34 seconds later. The Victoire collected two more in the opening frame from Mariah Keopple and a second from Ljungblom. Early in the second period, the Sirens capitalized with a power play goal from Ella Shelton, then continued their momentum with a goal from Jessie Eldridge less than four minutes later. With a 4-2 score heading into the third period, Montréal pulled away with two more unanswered goals from Mikyla Grant-Mentis and Marie-Philip Poulin, separated by 29 seconds of play. In the high-scoring matchup, six players recorded multi-point performances, counting four from the Victoire and two from the Sirens. Ann-Renée Desbiens made 28 saves on 30 shots for her ninth win of the season. The Victoire extend their lead atop the PWHL standings with 34 points – eight ahead of second-place Minnesota. The Sirens remain in a three-way tie for fourth place with 20 points alongside Boston and Ottawa.
QUOTES
Montréal Head Coach Kori Cheverie: “I liked our first period. It was a good start after two weeks without the group being together. The second, we obviously dipped a bit, and I didn't like our start, but then I thought our group responded well in the third and New York kind of woke up a little bit, and decided they were going to push back, and we expected that from them. We knew that they were going to come out hungry. I think they got the start that they wanted in the second, and I was really proud of the way that our team found a way to keep scoring."
Victoire forward Lina Ljungblom on playing with Clair DeGeorge and Maureen Murphy and the success their line had: “It's the second game that we play together, but I feel like we're trying to just do what we should do out there, do what the coaches want us to do, and just trying to have fun. So today it felt good for the whole line. I think that we could score some goals, so we're happy about that.”
New York Head Coach Greg Fargo on the team’s second period performance: “I had a lot to say going into that period. I think between the first and second, I give Montréal a lot of credit – they came out to start the game like it was a playoff game and we weren’t ready for it. We were doing a lot of puck watching in the first period and I don’t know what it was because we were trying to go into it and claw out of a three-game skid. I would have felt like we had a better response to start the game, but everybody took a deep breath and collectively put it all behind us. The second period was better but at that point it was too late.”
Sirens Forward Emmy Fecteau on battling with childhood idol Marie-Philip Poulin: “I think we are lucky that we play in a league that allows us to be physical and we embrace it, going into chances to be physical, we go into it 129% of the time.”
NOTABLES
Montréal scored six goals in a game for the second time in team history following a 6-3 victory last season over Ottawa at Verdun Auditorium on Feb. 24, 2024. The Victoire scored four goals in the third period in that contest and today they became the first team in PWHL history to score four times in the first period.
Lina Ljungblom recorded the first multi-goal game of her PWHL career. The Montréal rookie ended a ten-game goal drought since scoring her first career PWHL goal on Dec. 21 in Toronto.
Abby Boreen scored her sixth goal of the season and added an assist for consecutive multi-point performances against New York. The Victoire forward has five two-point games this season and is tied for second in team scoring with 12 points (6G, 6A) in 15 games.
Marie-Philip Poulin set a new career-high with her league-leading 11th goal of the season. The Victoire captain has three goals in her last two games, both against New York, and six goals in her last four contests.
Amanda Boulier recorded two primary assists for her first multi-point game of the season and second of her career.
Jennifer Gardiner recorded two assists for the second multi-point performance in her last four games. The Victoire rookie has four helpers in three games against the Sirens and is tied with Boreen for second in team scoring with 12 points (3G, 9A) in 15 games.
Sarah Fillier recorded two assists for her third multi-point performance of the season. The Sirens rookie has produced in all eight road games this season (3G, 9A) and reclaims the league’s scoring lead with 17 points (5G, 12A) in 16 games.
Jessie Eldridge recorded her fifth multi-point game of the season with a goal and assist, surpassing her four multi-point games during the inaugural season. The Sirens forward is second in team scoring with 14 points (5G, 9A) in 16 games to match her 24-game point output last year.
Ella Shelton scored her fifth goal of the season and is now tied for the league lead in goals among defenders and tied for the team lead with two power play tallies. Shelton has recorded a point in all six games she’s played on the road this season and in seven of eight games against Montréal in her career.
Mariah Keopple scored her third goal of the season which held as her first career game-winning tally. The Victoire defender has now set a new career-high for points in a season with four (3G, 1A).
Mikyla Grant-Mentis set a new career-high with her third goal of the season, ending a six-game goal drought.
Clair DeGeorge recorded an assist for her first point in her 14th game as a member of the Victoire. The assist matches her 23-game total with Minnesota last season.
Erin Ambrose recorded her tenth assist of the season to put her into a tie for second most among defenders and one behind Minnesota’s Claire Thompson who leads the position with 11.
Cayla Barnes has recorded an assist in consecutive games and continues to lead rookie defenders in scoring with eight points (1G, 7A) in 15 games.
Maureen Murphy recorded her first assist of the season on Keopple’s game-winner. The Victoire forward tallied her first PWHL assist against her home state, New York, last season on Jan. 10, 2024.
Abby Roque recorded an assist and has points in six straight road games (3G, 4A).
Kelly Ann Nadeau made her Victoire debut recorded 6:00 of ice time and one hit in the game.
Ann-Renée Desbiens has now won six straight games and has gone nine straight without allowing more than two goals.
Corinne Schroeder was pulled for the first time in her PWHL career after allowing four goals on seven shots in the first period. She was replaced by Kayla Osborne who stopped 14 of 16.
The Sirens have recorded multiple goals in all eight of their road games this season, which is now the longest such streak in the league this season.
SCORESHEET RECAP
New York 0 2 0 - 2
Montréal 4 0 2 – 6
1st Period-1, Montréal, Ljungblom 2 (Degeorge, Ambrose), 9:25. 2, Montréal, Boreen 6 (Boulier, Gardiner), 9:59. 3, Montréal, Keopple 3 (Barnes, Murphy), 15:47. 4, Montréal, Ljungblom 3 (Boulier), 18:34. Penalties-No Penalties
2nd Period-5, New York, Shelton 5 (Eldridge, Fillier), 3:40 (PP). 6, New York, Eldridge 5 (Roque, Fillier), 7:12. Penalties-Keopple Mtl (delay of game), 2:48; Greig Mtl (boarding), 3:53; Poulin Mtl (roughing), 7:52; Hartje Ny (holding), 12:33; O'Neill Mtl (hooking), 13:58.
3rd Period-7, Montréal, Grant-Mentis 3 (Dalton), 8:55. 8, Montréal, Poulin 11 (Gardiner, Boreen), 9:24. Penalties-Eldridge Ny (roughing), 1:08; Zandee-Hart Ny (delay of game), 2:38.
Shots on Goal-New York 6-14-10-30. Montréal 7-4-12-23.
Power Play Opportunities-New York 1 / 4; Montréal 0 / 3.
Goalies-New York, Schroeder 6-5-0-1 (7 shots-3 saves); Osborne 1-2-0-1 (16 shots-14 saves). Montréal, Desbiens 9-1-0-1 (30 shots-28 saves).
A-10,172 (sell-out)
THREE STARS
1. Amanda Boulier (MTL) 2A
2. Lina Ljungblom (MTL) 2G
3. Abby Boreen (MTL) 1G, 1A
STANDINGS
Montréal (9-3-1-2) - 34 PTS – 1st Place
New York (4-3-2-7) - 20 PTS – 4th Place (Tied)
UPCOMING SCHEDULES
New York: Monday, February 17 vs. Boston at 4 p.m. ET
Montréal: Tuesday, February 18 vs. Minnesota at 7 p.m. ET