LAVAL, QC (May 8, 2025) – The Ottawa Charge won the first playoff game in team history, skating to a 3-2 victory over the Montréal Victoire in Game 1 of the PWHL Playoffs, presented by SharkNinja, on Thursday night at Place Bell. Shiann Darkangelo scored the game-winning goal, breaking a 2-2 tie midway through the third period, to give the Charge a fifth straight road win and an early lead in the best-of-five series. The top ranked Victoire, who opened the playoffs at home for the second straight season, have yet to win a playoff contest through four all-time games, including three at Place Bell. Captain Brianne Jenner opened the scoring on the power play at 4:54 of the first period to give Ottawa their first of three leads in the game. Montréal forward Maureen Murphy evened the score with her own power play goal at 12:13, making it 1-1 going into the second period. The teams traded goals in the middle frame, first by Ottawa’s Ashton Bell at 5:07, followed by Victoire captain and regular-season goal scoring leader Marie-Philip Poulin with the team’s second power play goal of the game, at 7:12. The Victoire outshot the Charge 33-27 but couldn’t find a winning answer against red-hot rookie Gwyneth Philips, who recorded 31 saves in her playoff debut. Ann-Renée Desbiens stopped 24 shots in her fourth career playoff start. The series continues on Sunday afternoon at Place Bell.
QUOTES
Ottawa forward Shiann Darkangelo on her winning goal: “It was a great play by Emily (Clark) and Mannon (McMahon) on the forecheck. Clarky made a great pass to me and made it easy to get a puck on the net and put it in the back of the net. It was pretty exciting.”
Charge captain Brianne Jenner on taking away home ice advantage from Montréal: “It doesn’t change our mindset too much. We wanted to have a good start. We’re happy with a lot of things in our game, but we know that we’re going to have to clean some things up. They made a good push there, and I don’t think there will be any momentum from this game to the next. We’re just going to have to come out and be ready to go on Sunday.”
Montréal forward Laura Stacey: “It wasn't our best game and we were right there. That game was just as much ours as it was theirs. We outshot them, we had a lot of great opportunities. We were right there. I think there is some positive to take in the sense of -okay, it wasn't our best, and we were still right there. So, if we can put that game together for a whole 60 minutes, it'll look scary I think.”
Victoire Head Coach Kori Cheverie: “I liked what we generated. I liked the shot quantity. I liked the quality of chances we got as well. We would have liked to see some more execution offensively. We would have liked to put some of those away on five on five. I liked our power play tonight, they obviously helped us. We took too many penalties, undisciplined penalties, that's for sure.”
NOTABLES
Ottawa has now won three straight games against Montréal dating back to Feb. 22 after losing the first four games of the regular-season series.
Montréal is the first team in PWHL history to lose four straight playoff games.
Gwyneth Philips became the first rookie goaltender in PWHL history to earn a playoff victory. This was her third PWHL performance with more than 30 saves.
Brianne Jenner scored the first goal in Charge playoff history. The captain has scored in consecutive games and has six goals in her last 10 games – tied for most in the PWHL since Mar. 11. The team has won 14 of the 15 all-time games in which she has scored.
Ottawa tied for the league-lead in game-opening goals with 18 during the regular season. This was just the second time all season that Montréal surrendered a goal within the first five minutes.
Shiann Darkangelo scored the game-winner, and now has 10 points (4G, 6A) in her last nine games. Darkangelo was appointed as alternate captain for the Charge prior to tonight’s game.
Ashton Bell has scored all four of her season’s goals (3 Regular-Season, 1 Playoffs) against Montréal, including three in her last two games against the team.
Maureen Murphy has recorded a point in all four of Montréal’s all-time playoff games (2G, 2A), including a goal tonight. She is the only PWHL player averaging a point per game all-time in the playoffs (minimum two games).
Marie-Philip Poulin has scored in consecutive games after leading the regular season with 19 goals. Last season, the Victoire captain did not find the back of the net until Game 3 of the team’s semifinal series against Boston.
Tereza Vanišová has assisted on a Jenner goal in two straight games.
Aneta Tejralová collected an assist on the power play. The Charge defender tied for second on the team in power play assists during the regular season (3).
Danielle Serdachny’s first career playoff point came in her first career playoff game at Place Bell. The rookie also scored her first career goal against Montréal in her first career game in this same building on Nov. 30.
Jocelyne Larocque has recorded an assist in Game 1 of the playoff semifinals in consecutive seasons, doing so last year with Toronto against Minnesota.
Emily Clark has recorded an assist in consecutive games and has three in her last four games.
Kati Tabin recorded a primary assist on the power play nearly eight minutes after taking the Victoire’s first minor penalty of the playoffs.
Anna Wilgren contributed an assist and has three points (1G, 2A) in her last four games.
Erin Ambrose has assisted on a Poulin goal in two straight games and has recorded an assist in three straight playoff games.
Jennifer Gardiner recorded an assist and has three points (1G, 2A) in her last four games.
Laura Stacey produced her 13th game this season with at least five shots on goal (6). Poulin led all players with a season-high eight shots.
Jincy Roese was scratched from the Charge lineup and is listed day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Montréal lost for just the third time this season when outshooting their opponent.
The Charge won 10 of their 12 regular season games when scoring three or more goals.
The Victoire allowed three or more goals in a league-low 10 games this season. They only won three of those games.
Montréal went 2-for-2 on the power play for the first time in team history.
SCORESHEET RECAP
Ottawa 1 1 1 - 3
Montréal 1 1 0 – 2
1st Period-1, Ottawa, Jenner 1 (Vanišová, Tejralová), 4:54 (PP). 2, Montréal, Murphy 1 (Tabin, Wilgren), 12:13 (PP). Penalties-Tabin Mtl (delay of game), 4:20; House Ott (illegal body checking), 10:43; Keopple Mtl (cross checking), 15:20.
2nd Period-3, Ottawa, Bell 1 (Serdachny, Larocque), 5:07. 4, Montréal, Poulin 1 (Ambrose, Gardiner), 7:12 (PP). Penalties-Leslie Ott (holding), 5:57; Keopple Mtl (cross checking), 19:08.
3rd Period-5, Ottawa, Darkangelo 1 (Clark), 9:17. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Ottawa 8-9-10-27. Montréal 12-13-8-33.
Power Play Opportunities-Ottawa 1 / 3; Montréal 2 / 2.
Goalies-Ottawa, Philips (33 shots-31 saves). Montréal, Desbiens (27 shots-24 saves).
A-6,570
THREE STARS
1. Brianne Jenner (OTT) 1G
2. Maureen Murphy (MTL) 1G
3. Gwyneth Philips (OTT) 31/33 SV
SERIES
Ottawa leads Montréal 1-0
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Game 2: Sunday, May 11 at 2 p.m. ET (Place Bell)