A nail-biter in Montreal at Place Bell on Wednesday ended in heartbreak for the Sceptres, who fell 4-3 in a shootout to the Victoire de Montreal, extending their losing streak to two games. With this strong performance, the Victoire extended their winning streak to four games, showcasing their offensive firepower and resilient defense. Marie-Philip Poulin sealed the deal for Montreal, scoring the game-winning goal in the fifth round of the shootout. Hannah Miller, Daryl Watts, and Jesse Compher each found the back of the net for Toronto. Laura Stacey, Maureen Murphy, and Mariah Keopple also scored for the Victoire to help secure the win. The Sceptres head home to host the Ottawa Charge on Saturday, while the Victoire will go to the Prudential Center to take on the New York Sirens on Sunday.
Toronto Sceptres Lineup:
Maltais – Nurse – Watts
Gosling – Turnbull – Compher
Connors – Miller – Daniel
Willoughby – Neubauerova – Woods
Harmon – Fast
Munroe – Flanagan
Carter – MacKinnon
Bernard
Campbell
Jackson
Montreal Victoire Lineup:
Gardiner – Poulin – Boreen
Ljungblom – O’Neill – Murphy
Grant-Mentis – Labelle – Dalton
Greig – Degeorge – Dubois
Stacey
Wilgren – Barnes
Keopple – Ambrose
Tabin – Boulier
Chuli
Abstreiter
Jesse Compher opened the scoring at 8:49 of the first period with her fifth goal of the season after sending the puck up to Sarah Nurse from the blue line, who went around behind the net with it before hitting it off the boards, where Renata Fast got ahold of it, passing it off to Daryl Watts. Fast got the puck back from Watts, handing it over to Hannah Miller, whose shot bounced off the end boards, and Compher grabbed it, jamming it in the left corner past Elaine Chuli for a 1-0 lead on the power play. With 2:53 left to play in the opening frame, Mariah Keopple knotted it up 1-1 when Lina Ljungblom carried the puck out of Montreal’s zone, getting denied by Kristen Campbell, the puck eventually found its way to the front of the net, where Keopple found the loose puck and tied it up.
Regaining the lead for the Victoire at 13:03 of the second, Maureen Murphy picked up her second of the season to make it 2-1 from just inside the top of the right circle when Laura Stacey raced after the puck after Murphy shot it up into the right corner where Stacey picked it up, finding Murphy before going around behind the net. Hannah Miller struck for her seventh goal of the season to knot it back up 2-2 on the power play when she received a pass from Daryl Watts, passing it to Emma Maltais, who had been driving up on the left side, and she got it back from Maltalis, firing from the right circle with 6:48 on the clock.
Laura Stacey found the back of the net to put Montreal back in front to untie the knot at 9:47 of the third frame with her fourth goal of the season, making it a 3-2 score when she collected the puck in the neutral zone, just below the blue line and drove up to send it past Kristen Campbell from just inside the left circle. With 3:33 remaining in regulation, Daryl Watts tied it back up 3-3 after the Sceptres took the puck out of their zone, and she got it in front after Sarah Nurse sent it over to the front of the net.
Overtime wasn’t enough for Toronto and Montreal, so they went to a shootout to decide the game. In the fifth round, Marie-Philip Poulin put the puck home to secure the 4-3 shootout win.
Renata Fast on how this season has been going for the Sceptres: “Obviously last year we had a little bit of a slow start too. I think it was a little bit different this year, but at the end of the day, I think we’re in a position now where we were last year where there’s so much confidence in our group, and despite not getting the results we want, it’s pretty incredible to see how close the group has stayed together. Positive and confident, and no one is turning and going their own way, so I think that was the same last year and that’s what helped us get out of it, and I’m seeing a similar trend right now with our group.”
Game Notes:
– Kristen Campbell made a total of 25 saves for Toronto.
– The Sceptres’ second tally of the night had been their fifth goal in a row scored on the power play, this being a new PWHL record. After their first of the matchup, along with all three of their goals in their previous game against the MN Frost, came on the advantage. Toronto now holds the league’s best power play, a success rate of 26.2%, scoring with 11 goals on the advantage.
– Recording both a goal and an assist, Hannah Miller had her fourth multi-point game this campaign. In three consecutive games, Miller has tallied points, 3 goals and 2 assists, tying for the lead among Sceptres skaters in points with 12 (seven goals, five assists). Her seven goals match her total from season one (23 GP) and move her into sole possession of second place in the category among all skaters throughout the league.
– Renata Fast is tied for the league lead with 11 assists this season, tying with Claire Thompson. …She’s also tied Miller for the team lead in points with 12 (one goal, 11 assists), and she leads the PWHL in points on the power play with one goal and seven assists. …Dating back to last season, Fast extends her point streak against the Victoire to four, recording five assists during it, including four this season.
– After recording her fifth goal of the season, Jesse Compher is tied for the sixth in the league, tied for second among Toronto players, in the category. She’s riding a four-game point streak, which is the first time in her career (two goals, three assists), and in back-to-back games, she scored power-play goals.
– Daryl Watts recorded a goal and picked up an assist for her second multi-point game of the season, and extended her point streak to three (one goal, three assists).
– Sarah Nurse has points in her past three games (two goals, two assists) after collecting her sixth assist of the season. With her helper, she moves into ninth place in league scoring with a total of 11 points; five goals, six assists.
– Emma Maltais recorded her second assist of the season, which marks her fourth point of the season (two goals, two assists).
– Carly Jackson served as backup to Campbell for the first time this season.
– For the second time this season, the Sceptres fired a season-high 14 shots on goal in the first 20 minutes. The first time had been in a 4-2 victory against the Ottawa Charge.
– The Sceptres are 1-0-2-0 during a three-game point streak, which has been their longest of the season.
– Elaine Chuli made a total of 37 saves for Montreal.
– For the second time in her career, Laura Stacey tallied three points in a single game. This game had also been her first multi-point game of the season, and through 10 contests this season, she has seven points; four goals and three assists.
– Marie-Philip Poulin leads the league in both shootout goals (3) and shootout-winning goals (2).
– With her goal against Toronto, Mariah Keopple recorded her first career point against the Sceptres.
– Lina Ljungblom picked up her first career PWHL assist. Both of the rookie’s points have come against the Sceptres, a goal back on December 21 being the first point.
– This game had been the eighth matchup all-time between the Victoire and Sceptres. All eight of these games took place in eight different arenas.
– Sandra Abstreiter was backup for the third time this season.
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