Highlights and Press Conferences available on Montréal and Minnesota YouTube channels
LAVAL, QC (March 1, 2026) – The Montréal Victoire extended its undefeated streak at Place Bell, and against the Minnesota Frost, this season with a 4-0 shutout win highlighted by Ann-Renée Desbiens’ 17 save performance in goal. The Victoire’s seventh straight win at Place Bell came before a sold-out crowd of 10,172 that cheered the team into first place in the PWHL standings, while putting a halt to the Frost’s six-game point streak. After 13 minutes of back-and-forth chances to open the first period, Maggie Flaherty found the back of the net on a shot that lifted over Nicole Hensley’s blocker to put the Victoire up 1-0. Just 1:11 later, Dara Greig capitalized on a rebound chance in front of the net at 14:12 to secure Montréal’s lead and close out the scoring in the first period. The middle frame featured a defensive battle where neither team made it onto the scoresheet. Minnesota gained momentum in the third period with a 5-on-3 advantage where Sidney Morin had the best chance with a shot off the bottom of the crossbar that deflected away from the net. Maureen Murphy opened the third period offense with the Victoire’s third goal at 11:22, before Laura Stacey tallied her first career shorthanded ‘jailbreak’ goal from a Marie-Philip Poulin pass in the captain’s return from the Olympic break. Desbiens picked up her fourth shutout and 11th win as the Victoire leapfrog Boston by one point. Hensley reached 29 saves in her first regulation loss this season in eight games played as the Frost remain in third.
Both teams will travel to Coca-Cola Coliseum to play Toronto for their next games, with Montréal seeking their sixth straight win on Tuesday night and Minnesota looking for their first win to start the second half of the season on Sunday, Mar. 8.
QUOTES
Victoire Head Coach Kori Cheverie on the team limiting the Frost's chances: “It's kind of nice when these things happen where we focused a lot on defense recently, just in our video sessions, and the structure that we want to have defensively, which will often create the offense that you want. And the players committed to it tonight, and if it wasn't executed perfectly, we could see that they were trying to implement some of the things that we were talking about. Some of our players are tired, some are ready to go because they haven't had games in a while, so we're just doing our best to try to find the perfect recipe for everybody to have success and against Minnesota I think we've got to be proud to keep them off the score sheet and to keep them to the limited chances that they did have.”
Montréal forward Laura Stacey on the Place Bell crowd being the seventh player with the team still undefeated this season in its primary venue: “I mean, the fans are incredible here. We just talked about it, we're looking onto that ice, and it’s a packed house, it's loud. Sometimes you can't even hear what Kori is telling us to do on the bench, but they really are that extra player for us. We have a shot on goal, and they're lifting us up on the penalty kill. We get a huge kill in the five on three, and the crowd lights up and it's electric in this building. Honestly, it's those little moments that make a huge difference, and I think we all feel it, and we get fired up to come and play in front of our crowd and the people who support us."
Frost Head Coach Ken Klee on the potential impact of Kendall Coyne Schofield's absence in today's game: “You're not as good as you could be, but we have a lot of good players, so I think we're confident that we can play without her. She's one of the best players in the league, so when she's absent it hurts us, as it would any team when they're missing one of their top players. Again, that's not an excuse we have. We have a really good team. I think our depth and the number of players that we have, you can look at the stat sheet to see how many we have in the top 10. I think we have a lot of really good players. We're going to be okay. Today wasn't our day.”
Minnesota Forward Élizabeth Gigùere on coming to play in Québec: “It's always great to be back in Québec and [have] lots of friends and family in the stands. I was really happy to just get to play today, and unfortunately, it didn't go our way. I think we stuck [together] as a team. We pushed back. They made great saves, but this one's in the past, and we're just going to keep moving forward.”
NOTABLES
The Victoire remain undefeated at Place Bell this season, extending their team record to seven straight wins at their primary home venue. Montréal leads the league in win percentage at home (.852) with a 7-1-0-1 overall record.
Montréal has won five straight games for just the second time in team history following a six-game streak from Jan. 17 to Feb. 15 during the 2024-25 season.
The Victoire recorded their fourth straight win with a margin of victory of multiple goals, improving upon their team record. This was just the third time in team history they have won by a four-goal margin, with both previous wins against New York at Place Bell on Nov. 25 in this season’s home opener and on Feb. 15, 2025, of last season.
Minnesota entered the game with a league-high 3.20 goals-per-game average but were shut out for the first time since Apr. 27, 2025 against New York. This was also the Frost’s largest margin in a loss since losing 8-3 to Ottawa back on Feb. 13, 2025.
The Frost recorded their lowest shot total of the season with just 17. Their previous low was 21, also recorded against the Victoire at Place Bell on Jan. 4.
This was the first game of the season series decided in regulation, with the previous two won by Montréal in overtime.
Ann-Renée Desbiens tied a single season PWHL record with her fourth shutout of the campaign, significantly exceeding the one she and her team posted across the first two seasons. The Canadian Olympic silver medalist has won both of her starts since returning from Milan to bring her league leading total to 11 while improving her league leading goals-against-average to 1.06 and save percentage to .958.
Maureen Murphy recorded a goal and an assist for her second multi-point performance of the season after a two-goal game on Jan. 24 against Ottawa. She has four goals and two assists in 17 games this season to match her point total from the 2024-25 season (3G, 3A) in 28 games. The Victoire veteran sits two points shy of the 30-point mark for her career, ranking fourth in all-time scoring by players in a Montréal uniform.
Maggie Flaherty recorded her third goal and sixth point in 17 games played for the Victoire, matching her career high in 24 games as a member of the Frost during the inaugural season (1G, 5A). The Montréal defender tallied her first game-winning goal of the season and first points in back-to-back home games since the team’s first two games at Place Bell this season (1G, 1A).
Dara Greig notched a goal for the second consecutive game, recording the first goal streak of her career and extending her point streak to three (2G, 1A). The Victoire forward now has five points this season (3G, 2A), putting her one shy of doubling her point total from her rookie season (3A).
Laura Stacey snapped a career-high eight-game goalless drought with her third of the season and is now one away from reaching 25 for her career, a mark which only four players in PWHL history have surpassed. The Canadian Olympian and Victoire alternate captain extended her point streak to three games with one goal and three assists over that duration. She also led today’s game with eight shots on goal, tying a season-high, and leads the league with 78 overall.
Hayley Scamurra’s two assists were her sixth and seventh of the season, counting as her first career multi-point game and surpassing her previous career high of five assists in the inaugural season with Ottawa. The U.S. Olympic gold medalist eclipsed 20 points in her 66th career game with her first points against Minnesota this season.
Marie-Philip Poulin recorded an assist in her return to the lineup today after missing her first game of the season in Montréal’s 4-1 win over New York on Thursday. The Victoire and Canadian Olympic captain became just the third player in PWHL history to record at least 15 points in each of the league’s first three seasons, joining Minnesota captain Kendall Coyne Schofield and Ottawa captain Brianne Jenner. This was her fifth point (3G, 2A) in three games against the Frost this season.
Amanda Boulier became the 44th player in league history to reach 15 career assists. The Victoire defender notched her second assist in her last four games, after ending a 19-game pointless drought on Jan. 24 in Montréal’s 3-1 win against Ottawa.
Nicole Hensley suffered her first regulation loss in 11 games going back to Mar. 16, 2025, of last season. She sits fourth among league goaltenders with a goals-against-average of 1.85 and a .937 save percentage.
Élizabeth Giguère, who was activated from Minnesota’s Reserve Player list on Friday, made her season debut today in her home province. The Frost’s first player hailing from Québec recorded one shot on goal in 11:15 of ice time.
Coyne Schofield missed the first game of her PWHL career after being placed on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) from an upper-body injury sustained at the Olympics.
THREE STARS
1. Laura Stacey (MTL) 1G, 8 SOG
2. Maureen Murphy (MTL) 1G, 1A
3. Ann-Renée Desbiens (MTL) 17/17 SV
STANDINGS
Montréal: 33 PTS (9-3-0-5) – 1st Place
Minnesota: 28 PTS (7-2-3-4) – 3rd Place
UPCOMING SCHEDULES
Montréal: Tuesday, Mar. 3 at Toronto at 7 p.m. ET
Minnesota: Sunday, Mar. 8 at Toronto at 12 p.m. ET