LOWELL, MA (March 18, 2025) – Susanna Tapani scored a goal and an assist in regulation and netted the winning goal in the sixth round of the shootout to lead Boston to a 3-2 victory over Montréal on Tuesday night at the Tsongas Center. The victory places the Fleet five points behind the Victoire at the top of the league standings with back-to-back wins as part of a nine-game point streak. Boston captain Hilary Knight also had a multi-point performance, opening the scoring with a power play goal at 19:08 of the first period. Amanda Boulier responded at 6:08 of the second period with her first goal of the season and first of a two-point game for Montréal. Tapani gave Boston their second lead of the game at 11:47 until Anna Wilgren capitalized on a Victoire power play at 16:44 to knot the score 2-2. The shootout featured five goals on 12 total attempts with Tapani, Knight, and Alina Müller scoring for Boston, and Erin Ambrose and Marie-Philip Poulin scoring for Montréal. Emma Söderberg recorded 26 saves on 28 shots in the game, collecting her first win of the season for the Fleet. Elaine Chuli entered the game at 13:10 of the second period and stopped all 10 shots she faced in relief of Victoire starter Ann-Renée Desbiens (17/19) who left with an injury.
QUOTES
Fleet Head Coach Courtney Kessel: “We saw it in playoffs last year as well, lots of overtime. They’re a very structured team, hard to get pucks to the net. We seem to have it out for each other, a little bit of a rivalry... We have six games left so we can’t get complacent at all. We’ve had a good stretch here in the last twelve or so games, but we’re not done. I think this is just the start of us getting our confidence.”
Boston goaltender Emma Söderberg on the support from Fleet fans: “Always for us, being at home is very special, and having our fans showing up, always giving us that little extra energy. They come back to a two-two game, but the crowd still believes in us and gives us that little extra push towards the end. Then we go into the shootout and we have their support all the way. It’s huge.”
Victoire Head Coach Kori Cheverie on the rivalry between Montréal and Boston going into extra time: “On both sides, there is great goaltending, disciplined hockey. Defensively, both teams play well, and the goal differential shows that in the standings. Our team shows good character against this Boston team, and we seem to bring more physicality when we play them. So, I would attribute it to more of a tight checking game.”
Montréal defender Amanda Boulier on scoring her first goal in a Victoire uniform: “It feels nice to finally get that one. It's been a long time coming. It was just a really great play by Lina (Ljungblom). We locked eyes there, and I was just hanging out in the slot, and it was really a heads up play to find me there.”
NOTABLES
The last four matchups between the Fleet and Victoire have gone past regulation (two in overtime, two in a shootout), extending the longest streak between any two teams in PWHL history. Including playoffs, nine of the 12 all-time meetings between the teams have gone to extra time.
Boston extended their winning streak at the Tsongas Center to seven games and their point streak to nine games (4-3-2-0), tying Toronto for the longest point streak of the season.
The Fleet are a perfect 4-0 in shootouts this season with two of their wins coming against the Victoire. They lead the PWHL with 10 games beyond regulation (6-4).
Five of Montréal’s six games in March have ended past regulation. Overall, this season, the Victoire are 3-2 in shootouts, with both losses coming to the Fleet, and are 6-3 in games requiring extra time.
Susanna Tapani scored her third shootout goal and second shootout winner of the season and ranks second in both categories behind Montréal’s Marie-Philip Poulin.
Tapani recorded her fifth multi-point performance of the season with her goal and assist in regulation time, her first of such against Montréal this season. Her 15 points (10G, 5A) in 24 games are a new career-high.
Poulin had a season-high three shootout attempts (1-for-3) and has scored in all five of the Victoire’s shootouts this season. She leads the league with five shootout goals and 10 attempts.
Emma Söderberg recorded her first win of the season in her fifth start and her first career shootout victory.
Hilary Knight recorded a goal and an assist to take over the league lead in scoring with 26 points (13G, 13A) in 24 games. Her 13 goals are second behind only Poulin (14) and her 10 primary assists are now tied for first in the PWHL. The Fleet captain has recorded two straight multi-point games for the first time in her career and has six multi-point performances this season, which is tied for second-most in the PWHL.
Amanda Boulier scored her first goal of the season and first as a member of the Victoire after a 33-game goal drought dating back to Feb. 28, 2024, during the inaugural season with Ottawa. Her assist contributed to her second multi-point performance this season.
Anna Wilgren’s second goal of the season was her first tallied on the power play. She now ranks second in scoring among rookie defenders with seven points (2G, 5A) in 24 games.
Sidney Morin collected her fourth assist, exceeding her 24-game inaugural season total (3) in the same number of games.
Lina Ljungblom has recorded an assist in consecutive games, the first streak of her PWHL career.
Kati Tabin recorded a point for a second consecutive game—a secondary assist—and has set a new career-high for points in a season with seven (4G, 3A).
Clair DeGeorge’s second assist of the season set a new career-high in the category.
Laura Stacey maintained her league lead in shots on goal (87) after registering five in this game. Knight, who also recorded five shots on goal, ranks second in the category (85).
Hadley Hartmetz made her PWHL debut for Boston after spending the duration of the season on LTIR and logged 6:27 of ice time.
Kaitlin Willoughby made her Montréal debut after being acquired in a trade from Toronto on the Mar. 13 deadline and played 9:22 with one shot on goal.
SCORESHEET RECAP
Montréal 0 2 0 0 - 2
Boston 1 1 0 0 – 3
1st Period-1, Boston, Knight 13 (Morin, Tapani), 19:08 (PP). Penalties-Keopple Mtl (interference), 4:58; Dubois Mtl (too many players), 6:10; Boulier Mtl (hooking), 12:18; Dubois Mtl (tripping), 18:40.
2nd Period-2, Montréal, Boulier 1 (Ljungblom, Degeorge), 6:08. 3, Boston, Tapani 10 (Knight), 11:47. 4, Montréal, Wilgren 2 (Boulier, Tabin), 16:44 (PP). Penalties-Brandt Bos (tripping), 1:41; Morin Bos (interference), 15:30.
3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Brandt Bos (inter. on goaltender), 8:10; O'Neill Mtl (slashing), 18:56; Brown Bos (roughing), 18:56.
1st OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties
Shootout - Montréal 2 (Ljungblom NG, Poulin NG, Ambrose G, Stacey NG, Poulin G, Poulin NG), Boston 3 (Tapani NG, Knight NG, Müller G, Gabel NG, Knight G, Tapani G).
Shots on Goal-Montréal 7-11-8-2-0-28. Boston 11-10-4-4-1-30.
Power Play Opportunities-Montréal 1 / 3; Boston 1 / 4.
Goalies-Montréal, Desbiens 13-2-1-1 (19 shots-17 saves); Chuli 3-3-0-1 (10 shots-10 saves). Boston, Söderberg 1-2-1-0 (28 shots-26 saves).
A-3,375
THREE STARS
1. Susanna Tapani (BOS) 1G, 1A, SOW
2. Emma Söderberg (BOS) 26/28 SV
3. Amanda Boulier (MTL) 1G, 1A
STANDINGS
Montréal (10-6-3-5) – 45 PTS – 1st Place
Boston (8-6-4-6) - 40 PTS – 2nd Place
UPCOMING SCHEDULES
Montréal: Sunday, March 23 vs. Toronto at 12 p.m. ET
Boston: Wednesday, March 26 vs. Toronto at 7 p.m. ET (Agganis Arena)