LAVAL, QC (February 18, 2024) – Claire Dalton scored Montréal’s first powerplay goal since January 8 to help propel her team to a 2-1 win over Minnesota at a sold-out Place Bell in front of 10,172 fans on Sunday afternoon.
Heading into today’s matchup, Montréal was on a 0/24 skid on the powerplay, dating back seven games to Catherine Dubois’ marker in New York in early January.
The goal, scored at 3:41 of the first period, came with 15 seconds left in the advantage, after Montréal controlled possession for much of the penalty. With the second powerplay unit deployed, defender Kati Tabin took a shot from the point which deflected into the net off Dalton, who was screening Minnesota goaltender Maddie Rooney.
The goal was Dalton’s second of the season — the forward scored the first-ever goal for Montréal in their season opener in Ottawa on January 2.
The powerplay tally was Montreal’s second of the season and first on home ice.
After a slow start, Minnesota bounced back in the second half of the opening frame, outshooting Montréal 5-1 in the final eight minutes.
At 17:42 of the first, Minnesota captain Kendall Coyne Schofield tied the game 1-1 with her fourth goal of the season.
After a long shift with puck possession in the offensive zone, Minnesota’s Claire Butorac took a shot on net from the right circle. Montréal’s Elaine Chuli made a right pad save but it was Coyne Schofield who grabbed the rebound at the side of the net before skating across the crease and backhanding the puck over the goaltender’s shoulder.
Montréal re-gained the lead when Sarah Lefort tallied her first of the season at 14:06 of the middle frame, just 12 seconds after Minnesota’s Sophie Jaques’ penalty expired.
With the puck still in the offensive zone, Kristin O’Neill prevented a Minnesota clearing attempt and got the puck to Lefort at the hash marks. Lefort then rushed towards the net, making a saucer pass over to Madison Bizal in the slot, who got the puck on net.
After Maddie Rooney made the original save, the rebound found Lefort who was parked all alone in front of the net—the forward had a wide-open cage to tap in the puck, which gave her team the 2-1 lead.
Minnesota pulled Rooney with just under two minutes remaining in the game for the 6-on-5 advantage. Minnesota maintained possession in the offensive zone, but Montréal made five key shots blocks, preventing Minnesota from getting any pucks through to the net with the extra attacker.
Chuli made 21 saves to record her fourth win of the season in what was her fourth start. Rooney stopped 18 shots in the loss.
Next up, Montréal heads to the Big Apple to take on New York at UBS Arena on Wednesday. Minnesota has seven days off before hosting Boston on February 25 at Xcel Energy Center.
Postgame Quotes:
Montréal defender Mariah Keopple on the win: “It was a quick turnaround. It was nice to see the stands packed and that definitely boosted our spirits to go out and fight for first place. It was good to see our powerplay produce and hopefully that will give us energy going into our upcoming games.”
Montréal head coach Kori Cheverie on the powerplay goal: “Enfin l’avantage numérique,” she said in French after the game (translation: finally, the power play). “I am glad we finally scored on the powerplay, so now I can answer questions about something else. It’s something we have been working on a lot, so it was good to score early in the game on the powerplay.”
Notes:
- Attendance: 10,172 – Place Bell, Laval, QC.
- Three Stars 1) Sarah Lefort (MTL) 2) Elaine Chuli (MTL) 3) Claire Dalton (MTL)
- Montréal has played in front of 29,457 fans over their last two games.
- Shots ended 22-20 in favour of Minnesota — They outshot Montréal 8-7 in the second, 9-7 in the third but were outshot 5-6 in the first period.
- The 20 shots are Montréal’s lowest single game total of the season.
- Kendall Coyne Schofield led all players with four shots on net — Teammate Grace Zumwinkle finished tied for second with Montréal’s Catherine Dubois and Ann-Sophie Bettez with three.
- Minnesota was 0/3 on the powerplay — Montréal was 1/2.
- Madison Bizal’s second period assist was her first PWHL point.
- Coyne Schofield has five points in her last six games.
- Minnesota center Kelly Pannek took a game-high 24 face-offs — Montréal’s Marie-Philip Poulin was second with 18.
- Of the players who took more than 10 face-offs, Montréal forward Kristin O’Neill had a game-high winning percentage of 71%.
- Chuli remains the only goaltender in the PWHL without a loss.
- Earlier this season, these two teams handed each other their first regulation losses — Minnesota beat Montréal 3-0 on January 6 and Montréal returned the favour with a 2-1 victory on January 24—Both games were played at Xcel Energy Center.
- This is the third game in a row for Minnesota, and fourth time in five games, that has ended 2-1 — They came out on top in their previous three with the same score.
- Montréal (4-3-2-2) secures three points and moves to within one point of Minnesota atop the PWHL standings.
- Minnesota (5-2-2-3) remains in first place with 21 points— They’ve played a league-high 12 games.
- Today’s sold-out attendance of 10,172 was the largest of three PWHL Montréal games at Place Bell so far this season.
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