Victoire Take Down Seattle 4–1

The Montreal Victoire defeat the Seattle Torrent 4–1, moving into a three-way tie for first place in the PWHL standings.

A successful Montreal team fighting for a spot in first place was facing off against a team that has experienced a difficult inaugural season, below expectations, spending most of their year at the bottom of the standings.

Montreal hit the ice in Laval without their captain Marie-Philip Poulin, who we have yet to have a specific update on. With this change in the lineup, Abby Roque was moved to center and Catherine Dubois joined her and Stacey on the top line. Dubois, who’s been a healthy scratch for parts of the season, has seen her role on the team questioned at times. Kori Cheverie mentioned that she feels Dubois is a player able to step up in important moments, likely referencing her game-winning goal in their playoff series against Ottawa that ended in a fourth overtime. It was a clear vote of confidence in a player still trying to solidify her place in the lineup.

Second-Period Surge
The story was perfectly written in this scenario, as Dubois was the one who opened the scoring in the second period, capitalizing on a wraparound attempt from Laura Stacey. She tallied her first goal of the season, and it couldn’t have come at a better time, both for her personally and for the team. “It really helped my confidence,” shared Dubois. “I was stressed today, so it helps the confidence to get one in.”

Later in the second, Laura Stacey extended the lead with a beautifully patient jailbreak goal that completely beat Seattle goalie Hannah Murphy. “You don’t know what to expect. She comes in with so much speed, and those two combined are pretty lethal,” shared her old teammate, now Seattle member Mariah Keopple. Her ability to create offense off the rush continues to be a major asset for Montreal.

Seattle’s Alex Carpenter wouldn’t let them go down without a fight and scored to put her team on the board, but Montreal quickly responded thanks to a shot from Kati Tabin that got deflected by Skylar Irving, bringing the score gap back to two.

Later in the game, Maureen Murphy received a big hit from Torrent forward Theresa Schafzahl that sent her into the boards, and she did not return to the ice for the remainder of the game.

Closing It Out
Montreal gave up many penalties during this game, but even though Seattle created some dangerous looks on their power plays, Montreal was able to kill all four of them in a convincing way. That discipline and structure on the penalty kill played a key role in maintaining their lead and keeping Seattle from getting back into the game.

Montreal has known its fair share of struggles in closing out games, and the last game against Boston was a clear signal of that. The team mentioned they wanted to improve their 5-on-6 play and their ability to close out games. When Laura Stacey netted her second of the night into the empty net, she quite literally made sure that the puck was fully in the net. Something that made Coach Cheverie laugh: “I thought Laura was going to end up in the net with the puck because she was afraid of missing.” She added that her team’s ability to quickly turn around and learn from their mistakes is a key component of the team’s success.

Montreal is back in action on Sunday against the Ottawa Charge.