(Ottawa) The Montreal team took another step towards home ice advantage in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (LPHF) playoffs thanks to a 2-0 victory against Ottawa in front of a crowd of 8,452 spectators at TD Place on Saturday.
To earn this victory, Montreal needed a remarkable performance from Ann-Renée Desbiens in the third period, during which she had to turn away 21 of the 31 shots she faced during the match.
Desbiens’ work allowed him to collect his first shutout in the LPHF.
The Montrealers also needed a net from Laura Stacey (10e), early in the second period, and a goal denied to Ottawa with just under six minutes remaining in regulation time.
Maureen Murphy (5e) added an insurance goal at 18:12 of the third period at the expense of Emerance Maschmeyer, who blocked 21 pucks.
The Montreal team will complete its regular season next Saturday by visiting the Boston team.
Dynamic and shared play
Looking for a place in the next playoffs, the Ottawa players, driven by the energy of their fans, started the game with energy and quickly threatened the Montreal fortress.
After barely three minutes of play, Desbiens had already had to distinguish himself from Daryl Watts, then from Becca Gilmore, each time on point-blank shots.
Gradually, and helped by three more or less judicious punishments from their opponents, the Montrealers regained momentum without however managing to deceive Maschmeyer’s vigilance before the end of the first twenty.
Stacey took care of it after a little more than three minutes in the second period.
While in the right faceoff circle, Stacey took advantage of an Aneta Tejralova turnover to beat Maschmeyer with a powerful slap shot.
Although it was the only goal in this 20-minute segment, it was a one-sided period, as Kori Cheverie’s players were in constant control of the puck and the territory, thanks to a quality forecheck.
This collective work meant that Ottawa was limited to just two shots in the second period — the first came with just over seven minutes to play — while the Montreal team got 10 shots towards Maschmeyer.
As was probably to be expected, the Ottawa players reacted vigorously in the third period. And a lot.
In fact, they completely reversed the trend of the second period by getting the first nine shots of the third period, all in less than nine minutes.
But Desbiens was sensational during this sequence and made her best saves of the match at the expense of Hayley Scamurra and Brianne Jenner, on two occasions.
Ottawa thought they had tied the score with 5:52 remaining when Savannah Harmon pushed a puck into a wide-open net.
However, the goal was disallowed after video verification because Gilmore had come into contact with Desbiens just before, in the goalkeeper’s semi-circle.
Murphy would ensure victory for the Montreal troop.
reference: www.lapresse.ca