NEWARK, NJ (May 3, 2025) – Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice to lead Montréal to a 3–2 win over New York on Saturday at Prudential Center, cementing first place in the standings and top seed for the PWHL Playoffs. First-place Montréal, finishing the season five points ahead of second-place Toronto, will select its semifinal opponent between third-place Ottawa and fourth-seed Minnesota tomorrow at 6 p.m. ET, live on a special edition of Jocks in Jills on thepwhl.com and the PWHL’s YouTube channel.
Poulin opened the scoring just 11 seconds into the first period — setting a new PWHL record for the fastest goal to start a game — with the first of her two goals, giving Montréal an early 1-0 advantage. Less than four minutes later, Catherine Dubois doubled Montréal’s lead to 2-0 heading into the second period. Poulin extended Montréal’s lead midway through the second period with her league-leading 19th goal of the season, marking her second of the game and fifth multi-goal performance of the year. Trailing 3–0 in the third period, New York attempted a late comeback, with Sarah Fillier scoring on the power play at 2:39 and later assisting on Alex Carpenter’s goal at 19:43 — a point that pulled Fillier into a tie for the PWHL scoring lead with Boston’s Hilary Knight, who was held pointless today. However, New York couldn’t find the equalizer before the final buzzer. Victoire goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens tallied 27 saves on 29 shots, earning her league-leading fifteenth win of the season, while New York’s Abigail Levy recorded 25 saves on 28 shots in just her second start of the season.
QUOTES
Victoire Captain Marie-Philip Poulin on the end of the season: “It's never easy in this league—it's quite hard to play in it. It's going to be ups and downs, and it's how we're going to be able to get back up the next time. We did have a little rough patch a little bit ago, and that's part of it, and it's how we pull our sleeve up and go to battle and get back to work. Tonight, we wanted to get back up and finish first. We wanted that win, and we did. This group is never satisfied. You want to get better every day. You want to push the envelope, and that's the best part of it. And this group is hungry, and we're excited for the playoffs. Every time we have the chance to play back home at Place Bell, it's been very special, and we're pretty excited to start the playoffs at home, in front of our fans.”
Montréal Head Coach Kori Cheverie on picking their first-round opponent: “We get the privilege to choose our opponent, which is not an easy decision. All the teams are hard to play against. And then you pick an opponent, and they probably feel a little bit of extra ammo coming at us. So, for us, we know we have to go through everybody anyway. We know that whoever we decide to pick, it's going to be a hard-fought battle."
Sirens defender Ella Shelton on closing out the second PWHL season: “I guess having two years has been exciting, one to have a league in general for us to play and call that our nine-to-five every day... Having one home (venue) has been tremendous and this year we have been more able to focus just on the hockey side of things. A lot of the outside noise is kind of taking care of those growing pains…really now our focus is on this offseason and then hopefully really apply that (knowledge) into our third season.”
Sirens Head Coach Greg Fargo’s season assessment: “That's the first thing that comes to mind is just how grateful I am to be a part of it - it's a league that's taking off and there's a lot of excitement around where things are heading in the future. I think when we look back at this year, especially for our team, there's going to be lots to learn and reflect upon. Also some really great moments, and at the same time, lots to learn from. I think when you get to this point, you want to be playing in the next week, there's no doubt about it. We have come a long way; we've had some missteps that are the reason why we're not playing.”
NOTABLES
Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice to clinch the league’s top goal scorer award with 19 goals on the season. The Victoire captain also finishes first in the league with five multi-goal games, with no other player recording more than three, and six game-winning-goals. She now sits at 29 career PWHL goals, six more than anyone in league history, with 10 of her goals scored against New York – the most by any player against an opponent.
Poulin’s first of two goals set a new record for quickest goal in PWHL history with her tally at 0:11 in the first period. The previous record was held by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle, who scored 21 seconds into the Frost’s matchup against New York on Dec. 1.
Sarah Fillier scored her 13th goal and 16th assist of the season, bringing her season total to 29 points–– ten more than any PWHL rookie in history. She finishes the season as the league’s co-points leader with Boston’s Hilary Knight (15G, 14A).
Fillier finishes the season with a league-high five power play goals and becomes the second player in PWHL history to hit the 16-assist mark after Renata Fast hit that total earlier today.
Catherine Dubois scored for the third game in a row with her sixth goal of the season. Her three-game goal streak is one behind Laura Stacey’s team-high four-game streak this season.
Alex Carpenter scored her eleventh goal of the season to finish tied for seventh among all skaters.
Jessie Eldridge tallied her third multi-assist performance of the campaign, finished tied for first with eight multi-point games, and tied for third among all skaters with 15 helpers. Her 24 points rank second on the team and mark a 10-point increase over her inaugural season total.
Fillier and Eldridge connected on both goals to become the league’s most productive duo this season with 12 goals where both players were credited with a point.
Kati Tabin tallied her fourth assist of the season and third point in her final six games.
Erin Ambrose collected her thirteenth assist of the season, ending a five-game pointless skid. The Victoire defender has recorded 27 regular-season assists in her PWHL career, the most in league history.
Kaitlin Willoughby earned her first point of the season — and her first with Montréal — with an assist, matching her point total from her inaugural 23-game season in four additional games.
Dara Greig tallied her third assist —the rookie ended a seven-game point drought with the helper.
Maureen Murphy recorded an assist in back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Ella Shelton recorded a point in her second consecutive game (1G, 1A) with her helper today. She finishes the season with a career-high eight goals— the most among all defenders—and 16 points, ranking fourth at the position.
Montréal has scored three or more goals against New York in six games all-time, earning a 6-0-0-0 record in such games.
New York ended the season with the most games allowing the game’s first goal in the league (18).
Montréal’s Poulin, Cayla Barnes, Abby Boreen, Claire Dalton, Jennifer Gardiner, Mikyla Grant-Mentis, Kristin O’Neill and Anna Wilgren were in the lineup for all 30 of the team’s games this season.
New York’s Eldridge, Fillier, Jaime Bourbonnais, Jade Downie-Landry, Emmy Fecteau, Paetyn Levis, Abby Roque, Allyson Simpson, Noora Tulus and Micah Zandee-Hart were in the lineup for all 30 of the team’s games this season.
Montréal wins the season series against New York, 10-8 in points, and also won the inaugural season series, 13-2 in points.
The Victoire finish the season with the best road record in the PWHL at 6-2-3-4 (.556). The Sirens finish the season with a 1-3-1-8 record at Prudential Center and an overall home record of 2-3-2-8 (.311), ranking sixth in the league.
SCORESHEET RECAP
Montréal 2 1 0 - 3
New York 0 0 2 – 2
1st Period-1, Montréal, Poulin 18 (Tabin, Ambrose), 0:11. 2, Montréal, Dubois 6 (Willoughby), 4:04. Penalties-Girard Ny (tripping), 13:27; Barnes Mtl (roughing), 16:41; Bourbonnais Ny (hooking), 18:32.
2nd Period-3, Montréal, Poulin 19 (Greig, Murphy), 11:21. Penalties-Shelton Ny (boarding), 1:02; Girard Ny (tripping), 6:34; Shelton Ny (illegal body checking), 14:20; Poulin Mtl (hooking), 15:34.
3rd Period-4, New York, Fillier 13 (Shelton, Eldridge), 2:39 (PP). 5, New York, Carpenter 11 (Fillier, Eldridge), 19:43. Penalties-Greig Mtl (too many players), 2:05; Dalton Mtl (tripping), 7:12; Greig Mtl (holding), 10:44; Rosenthal Ny (high sticking), 13:55.
Shots on Goal-Montréal 9-11-8-28. New York 5-8-16-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Montréal 0 / 6; New York 1 / 5.
Goalies-Montréal, Desbiens 15-2-1-1 (29 shots-27 saves). New York, Levy 0-1-0-0 (28 shots-25 saves).
A-2,737
THREE STARS
1. Marie-Philip Poulin (MTL) 2G
2. Catherine Dubois (MTL) 1G
3. Alex Carpenter (NY) 1G
STANDINGS
Montréal (12-7-3-8) – 53 PTS – 1st Place
New York (8-4-5-13) - 37 PTS – 6th Place
UPCOMING SCHEDULES
Montréal: Thursday, May 8 vs. TBD at 7 p.m. ET