LAVAL, QC (March 23, 2025) – The Toronto Sceptres held on for a 2-1 win against the Montréal Victoire on Sunday afternoon in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,172 at Place Bell. Kristen Campbell stole the show for the Sceptres with a season-high 32 saves, including 17 in the second period, backstopping her team to consecutive victories over their Canadian rivals after the Victoire won the first four meetings of the season. The win extends Toronto’s point streak to four games during the month of March and boosts the Sceptres ahead of Boston and into second-place in the PWHL standings, just three points behind Montréal with five games remaining. The Victoire entered the game with an opportunity to clinch a playoff berth with a regulation win but suffered a season-high third straight loss. Both Toronto goals were scored in the second period with Jesse Compher lighting the lamp for the fifth time in six games against the Victoire just 52 seconds into the middle frame, followed by a Natalie Spooner strike at 12:10. The Sceptres lineup was bolstered by the return of Sarah Nurse, fresh off a 44-day stint on long-term injured reserve, picking up where she left off offensively with a primary assist on Spooner’s game-winner. The Victoire capitalized on their fifth power play opportunity of the game with captain Marie-Philip Poulin scoring at 15:15 of the third period to cut the deficit to one. Elaine Chuli turned aside 18 of 20 shots in her fourth start against the Sceptres this season. Campbell’s win counts as her eighth of the season, tied for third most in the PWHL.
QUOTES
Toronto forward Sarah Nurse: “Felt good. I hope I didn’t stick out as much as I thought that I did, but I have a great group around me. Playing with (Natalie) Spooner and Emma (Maltais); Emma took it on herself, she said “I’m F1” the whole game, so it’s nice to come to a group that is so supportive and has supported me throughout the entire process here. To come back as we’re heading into the last couple of games in the season is definitely a good runway.”
Sceptres Head Coach Troy Ryan: “I liked a lot of things (this game), though there are times things got sloppy at both ends. Really liked the start, the start of the first period and the start of the third period. But also, just kind of a gritty, gutsy road win against a very good team.”
Montréal Head Coach Kori Cheverie on going to the net: “Our players need to continue doing what they're doing and bear down on sticks, just a little bit. Maybe win the stick battle in front of the net, be a little bit quicker to shoot, but yeah, there are players in the room who wish they would have probably had more goals. We talked about that today, actually, before the game. And we've talked a ton about the net-front and going there if you want to score goals, that's where we go.”
Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin: “We had a lot of shots, and of course we wanted to put a lot of traffic in front of (Kristen) Campbell, who's a very good goaltender. It's up to us to work hard and put those rebounds in the back of the net. It'll be a great motivation for us before our next game.”
NOTABLES
Today’s game ends the regular-season series between the teams with Montréal winning 10-8 in points. Toronto won the inaugural season series 13-2 in points.
Toronto holds the league’s best record when scoring the game’s first goal (8-0-2-1).
Montreal suffered their first regulation loss of the season when outshooting their opponent (9-0-1-1).
Today’s first period was the first time in six games all season these teams have played a scoreless period against each other.
This marked the Victoire's fourth sell-out of the season in 11 games at Place Bell, and sixth game played in Montréal with more than 10,000 fans in attendance.
Kristen Campbell now leads the league with eight games allowing one or fewer goals, with six of those games coming in her last eight starts since Feb. 14. During that stretch, the Sceptres goaltender carries a save percentage of .951.
Jesse Compher’s ninth goal was also her fifth in six games against Montréal this season – four of which have opened the scoring.
Natalie Spooner’s third goal of the season was her first scored at even strength. She has points in two straight games and four (3G, 1A) in her last four contests.
Sarah Nurse recorded an assist in her first PWHL game since Feb. 1 after missing the last nine games on LTIR with a lower-body injury. The Sceptres forward has the league’s longest active point streak at five games (2G, 4A).
Marie-Philip Poulin scored her third power play marker which counted as her league-leading 15th goal. She becomes the first player to record 20 points in both of the PWHL’s first two seasons.
Jennifer Gardiner and Cayla Barnes combined for assists on the Victoire goal, one year after winning an NCAA championship together with Ohio State, as their former Buckeyes eye a second straight Frozen Four title tonight against Wisconsin. The pair rank second and third in assists among rookies with 12 and 10, respectively.
Blayre Turnbull recorded her fifth assist to set a new career-high for points in a season with 10 in 25 games after producing nine (3G, 6A) in 24 games during the inaugural season.
Emma Maltais’ fourth assist ended a four-game point drought – her second-longest stretch of the season - following six scoreless games from Dec. 3-31.
Hayley Scamurra picked up her second assist in six games after being held without a point in her first eight games as a member of the Sceptres.
Renata Fast recorded her league-leading 20th game of the season with both a hit and a blocked shot to her credit.
Laura Stacey led all players with six shots on goal and continues to lead the league in the category with 93.
Anna Kjellbin (TOR) and Kaitlin Willoughby (MTL) faced their former teammates for the first time since the trade deadline deal on Mar. 13. The new Sceptres defender logged 10:48 and the new Victoire forward played 8:07 with one shot on goal.
Ann-Renée Desbiens was scratched from the Victoire lineup after suffering an injury during Tuesday night’s game in Boston.
Prior to Montréal’s power play goal, Toronto had successfully killed 22 straight penalties dating back to Feb. 23 against Minnesota.
SCORESHEET RECAP
Toronto 0 2 0 - 2
Montréal 0 0 1 – 1
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Carter Tor (tripping), 8:29; O'Neill Mtl (hooking), 15:35.
2nd Period-1, Toronto, Compher 9 (Turnbull, Scamurra), 0:52. 2, Toronto, Spooner 3 (Nurse, Maltais), 12:10. Penalties-served by Woods Tor (too many players), 2:55; Nurse Tor (tripping), 8:55.
3rd Period-3, Montréal, Poulin 15 (Barnes, Gardiner), 15:15 (PP). Penalties-Woods Tor (tripping), 3:23; Turnbull Tor (cross checking), 14:22.
Shots on Goal-Toronto 8-8-4-20. Montréal 7-17-9-33.
Power Play Opportunities-Toronto 0 / 1; Montréal 1 / 5.
Goalies-Toronto, Campbell 8-6-2-1 (33 shots-32 saves). Montréal, Chuli 3-4-0-1 (20 shots-18 saves).
A-10,172 (sell-out)
THREE STARS
1. Kristen Campbell (TOR) 32/33 SV
2. Natalie Spooner (TOR) 1G
3. Marie-Philip Poulin (MTL) 1G
STANDINGS
Montréal (10-6-3-6) – 45 PTS – 1st Place
Toronto (11-2-5-7) - 42 PTS – 2nd Place
UPCOMING SCHEDULES
Toronto: Wednesday, March 26 at Boston at 7 p.m. ET (Agganis Arena)
Montréal: Wednesday, March 26 at Minnesota at 8 p.m. ET