Highlights and Press Conferences available on Montréal and Seattle YouTube channels
SEATTLE, WA (December 23, 2025) – The first-ever meeting between the Montréal Victoire and Seattle Torrent did not disappoint, with a narrow 2-1 win for the Torrent to end the Victoire’s four-game win streak and send the home team into the holiday break with a 3-2 homestand record. Rookie Hannah Murphy stood tall, recording her third win in as many starts to launch her pro career, withstanding a barrage of 38 Victoire shots, including 30 between the second and third periods. After 18:37 of play in the first period, Abby Roque opened scoring for the visitors, but the lead did not last with Seattle’s Alex Carpenter notching her fourth goal of the season at 3:32 into the second. Julia Gosling’s game-winning goal came 3:23 into the third, but the Victoire pressured until the final buzzer, including a six-on-four stretch with a power play and extra attacker in the final 2:30 in search of the equalizer. Ann-Renée Desbiens made 21 saves in the loss.
Seattle moves into the top half of the league standings heading into the holiday break tied for 4th with Minnesota. The Torrent head south to Dallas with a winning record for the first-ever PWHL Takeover Tour in Texas on Dec. 28. Meanwhile, Montréal has earned some well-deserved time at home after a three-game road trip that took them to both sides of the country; they next face Toronto on Dec. 27 at the Bell Centre.
QUOTES
Seattle forward Alex Carpenter on the team’s overall performance: “It was a good bounce back from our last game and we played a more complete game this time against a really good team. We shut down everything that they had tonight. We were getting bodies in front of pucks and trying to block as many as we could knowing that we had Hannah behind us. We’re super confident in her, but we were trying to give her a little break now and then and block a couple ourselves.”
Torrent Head Coach Steve O’Rourke on goaltender Hannah Murphy’s game: “I go back to the draft when Meghan Turner was sitting there – I’m just an innocent bystander sitting beside her – and she’s trying to decide what she wants to do in the second round, and the thing she never really wavered from was selecting Hannah Murphy. You can see why. She’s calm, she’s cool, she’s collected, and besides one [play] that I’d like to see back, the rest of [her game] was outstanding from start to finish. She gets in the way of a lot of pucks, knows where to go and competes to get to that next spot. Off to a great start.”
Victoire Head Coach Kori Cheverie on the end of this 10-day road trip: “You have to look at it as a whole. This group has been on the road, travelling coast to coast for the last 10 days. And there's a lot of positives. You can't just look at this last game or last period. I would even say the first period was not our best. And then from that moment on, we pushed forward and we liked the kind of game that we put on the ice. From the whole trip, we take what we need from this game, we take what we need from Halifax and Vancouver and then we move into the Bell Centre.”
Montréal rookie forward Nicole Gosling on playing professionally against her cousin Julia: “It's not our first time playing against each other, but to be here at this level, it's definitely really special for both of our families and everyone that supports us. To both be here, it’s definitely something that we don’t take for granted, but it would have been nice to get the win.”
NOTABLES
This was Seattle’s second comeback win of the season, previously beating New York 2-1 on Dec. 3 with a pair of late third period goals. Montréal suffered their first loss of the season when leading after the first period or when entering the third period with the score tied.
Hannah Murphy’s 37 saves were a career best, bringing the rookie to second in the league in save percentage (.966) and goals-against-average (1.00) having not allowed more than one goal in any of her three stars. The second-round pick out of Colgate University had a career .938 SV% and 1.56 GAA across 90 games for the Raiders.
Julia Gosling recorded her third multi-point performance of the season, a new career-high, with a goal and assist tonight to move into the team lead in points with seven (4G, 3A) and just one goal shy of the league leader, Kendall Coyne Schofield. The former Toronto Sceptre scored her first points of the 2024-25 season in her sixth game (2A); after tonight’s sixth game of the season, the second year forward has matched the number of goals she scored in her rookie season across 30 games.
This was the first PWHL game played between cousins Julia and Nicole Gosling, with the latter competing in her rookie season with the Victoire. Both players were first round draft picks, one year apart, with Julia chosen sixth overall by Toronto in 2024 and Nicole going fourth overall to Montréal in 2025.
Alex Carpenter’s fourth goal of the season ties for both the team lead and second in the PWHL alongside Gosling. Her four goals in six games is one game quicker than her 2024-25 season pace. The former New York Siren has goals in consecutive games against Montréal, lighting the lamp when she last faced the Victoire on May 3, 2025 at Prudential Center.
Abby Roque’s second goal of the season brought her to points in consecutive games for the first time as a member of the Victoire, after she assisted on Marie-Philip Poulin’s opening goal in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Vancouver. Her last two game stretch with consecutive points came March 22 to 25 with a goal and an assist for the Sirens.
Jessie Eldridge has points in consecutive games after scoring her first goal of the season against Boston. Her last point streak came over three games from Feb. 23 to Mar. 5, 2025 with a goal and two assists as a member of the Sirens. When playing for New York, the forward scored five goals against Montréal – second most against the team in PWHL history.
Hilary Knight’s team-leading fifth assist of the season came as the primary helper on Gosling’s game-winning goal. After being left off the scoresheet against her former Boston team, Seattle’s captain has assists in consecutive games against Montréal dating back to Apr. 28, 2025 as a member of the Fleet.
Anna Wilgren ended a four-game scoring drought with an assist – her second of the season – against her former Victoire team. Her last assist came in this season’s opening game in Vancouver, also on a Gosling marker. In 30 games during her rookie season in Montréal, Wilgren had three goals and six assists.
Laura Stacey has been the primary helper on both of Roque’s goals this season, the last coming in the third period of Montréal’s 4-0 win over New York on Nov. 25. Stacey has been productive at Climate Pledge Arena, scoring a power play goal against Boston during the Seattle Takeover Tour on Jan. 5.
Marie-Philip Poulin extended her lead as the Victoire’s top scorer with her third assist and fifth point of the season. She now has points in consecutive games for the second time this season. The Victoire captain has scored a goal against every PWHL opponent except for Seattle, and will look to round out her record when the sides meet again on Mar. 19, 2026 at Place Bell.
Montréal recorded a season-high 38 shots, with Stacey leading all skaters with six shots on goal, followed by Maureen Murphy and Shiann Darkangelo each tallying five a piece. Their previous season high of 31 shots came on Dec. 17 in Toronto. Last game in Vancouver, Murphy tallied a career-high six shots on goal.
Ann-Renée Desbiens made her fifth start of the season and allowed two goals for the first time since the Victoire’s season opener against Boston.
Lily Delianedis suited up for her second PWHL game in place of Jenna Buglioni who was scratched from the Torrent lineup with an upper-body injury after exiting Sunday’s game in the second period.
Catherine Dubois missed her third consecutive game for the Victoire and is listed day-to-day.
THREE STARS
1. Hannah Murphy (SEA) 37/38 SV
2. Julia Gosling (SEA) 1G, 1A
3. Abby Roque (MTL) 1G
STANDINGS
Montréal (3-1-0-2) – 2nd Place (Tied)
Seattle (3-0-1-2) – 4th Place (Tied)
UPCOMING SCHEDULES
Montréal: Saturday, Dec. 27 vs. Toronto (Bell Centre) at 2 p.m. ET
Seattle: Sunday, Dec. 28 at New York (in Dallas) at 5 p.m. CT / 3 p.m. PT