On Sunday afternoon, the Montreal Force played their second game of a back-to-back against the Metropolitan Riveters at the Raymond Bourque Arena.
The Metropolitan Riveters will head home with a split in a two-game series with the new Montreal Force after Kelly Babstock beat Marie-Soleil Deschenes with 57 seconds left in regulation to seal the road win.
The beginning of the first was fast and furious. Still, it was the home team that scored the opening goal of the game just as a powerplay was expiring when Brooke Stacy, with a shot from the top of the faceoff circle, beat Eveliina Makinen, the Finnish veteran goaltender.
The visitors responded with 2:28 left in the first when Fanni Garat-Gasparics scored her second goal of the weekend on the penalty kill and the first period finished 1-1. The second period was even tighter, and it became the battle of the goaltenders.
In the third period, things got interesting as both teams went back and forth, and again, the Riveters struck as their best player on the ice. Madison Packer found the back of the net 10 minutes into the final frame.
Four minutes later, The Force tied the game at two as Christine Deaudelin, with a slapshot from just outside the top circle, blasted one into the net. As it looked like the game was going into overtime, Kelly Babstock finally managed to score with 57 seconds left on the clock to seal the win for Metropolitan.
After the game, head coach Peter Smith was disappointed with the result but spoke about the weekend’s positives.
” I think Marie-Soleil was good today,” Smith said. ” Unfortunate on that third goal, but we turned the puck over at a bad area, I thought we did some good things on the powerplay, but I think we lacked in puck recovery, and we had a shoot-first mentality, but we weren’t getting second chances.”
Stacy, who scored the opening goal, gave her thoughts on the game and fell just short of getting another win.
” The experience was amazing,” Stacy said. ” The fanbase was incredible and one of the best atmospheres we have ever played in, and we need to keep pushing forward and improve every game, and we are doing very well, and we are going to do a lot of good things this season.”
Deaudelin, who scored the game-tying goal today, spoke about the thrill and the joy of getting on the scoreboard.
” It was amazing,” Deaudelin said. ” Coming back after getting scored on it really woke up the crowd, and it brought our energy back up.”
Montreal will now travel to face the Connecticut Whale on Saturday, December 3rd, as they begin a trip that will see them play seven games in seven different cities in Quebec.
