Much of Wednesday’s (Jan. 10) game between PWHL Montreal and PWHL New York felt like it could go either way. New York tied things up at 2-2 26 seconds into the third period. It was a goalie battle between New York’s Corinne Schroeder and Montreal’s Elaine Chuli most of the way.
Then, Montreal cracked the code, scoring three straight goals to capture the 5-2 victory, which included Marie-Philip Poulin scoring the second hat trick in PWHL history.
Goaltenders Chuli, Schroeder Battle
The game was tied 1-1 over halfway through the first period thanks to a goal by Jessie Eldridge for New York and a response two minutes later by Poulin. With roughly seven minutes to go in the first frame, Montreal got nearly four consecutive minutes on the power play (roughly 10 seconds consisted of a 5-on-3 advantage). It felt like they were ready to break the game wide open but, instead, New York came up with a massive penalty kill, in large part thanks to Schroeder who despite being under bombardment and shut the door.
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When New York’s Jill Saulnier exited the box, her team was clearly eager to get back on the attack. The rest of the first period — and much of second — was simply New York and Montreal trading high-quality scoring chance after chance after chance. Chuli and Schroeder rose to the occasion each time.
Halfway through the second period, Catherine Dubois potted Montreal’s first power play goal in franchise history (they were 0-for-5 heading into Wednesday’s game) giving them a 2-1 lead. Defender Erin Ambrose let go of a shot from the point that Schroeder was able to kick wide. Maureen Murphy shovelled the rebound on net and, as Schroeder tried to find the puck between her pads, Dubois dug and dug until she sent the loose puck dribbling through the goaltender and into the net.
By the end of the second period, Chuli had faced 25 shots and Schroeder had faced 22.
Poulin’s Hat Trick Caps Off 5-2 Win
New York’s Ella Shelton scored a power-play goal of her own, assisted by Abby Roque and Jessie Eldridge, just 26 seconds into the third period to make it a 2-2 game. Kennedy Marchment scored less than five minutes later to put Montreal back ahead, 3-2. Just over 60 seconds later, Poulin put up her second tally of the night.
Related: PWHL: Zumwinkle Hat-Trick Propels Minnesota Over Montreal 3-0
Like many of the two teams’ chances Wednesday, it came on the counterattack. Maureen Murphy picked up the puck in Montreal’s end and sent it up to their own blue line where Tereza Vanišová was waiting. Vanišová tossed a saucer across the neutral zone to Poulin on the right side. She slowed the play down with plenty of ice in front of her to work with. New York’s lone defender back had to respect a potential shot from Poulin, but instead the captain found Murphy breaking free from New York back-checkers to create a slim two-on-one break.
All eyes were on Murphy as she skated to the left post, but she had the awareness to find Poulin coasting to the right post and sent a pass over at the top of the crease. Poulin tapped it by Schroeder for the 4-2 lead.
Poulin’s third goal of the night was unassisted — a battle along Montreal’s end-boards resulted in the puck being ejected to Poulin waiting at the faceoff circle. She skated it up to the red line and fired one into the empty net to seal the 5-2 victory.
The Road Ahead
The win brings Montreal to 2-1 on the season while the loss drops New York to 1-2. The victory was a solid response to being shut out by PWHL Minnesota over the weekend.
Montreal will take on PWHL Boston (0-1) on Saturday for the first time while New York will visit the undefeated PWHL Minnesota (3-0) for a game on Sunday.
