Home Ice Heroes: Montreal 2, New York 3 (SO)

Alex Carpenter and Abby Roque, to absolutely no one's surprise, were the heroes as PWHL New York held on for a 3-2 shootout win over PWHL Montreal at UBS Arena on Wednesday night.

What happened?

Less than three minutes into the game, Alex Carpenter opened the scoring for New York on the power play. Abby Roque sent a pass from the slot to Carpenter on the wing; she charged to the net with speed and sniped a top-corner shot that cleanly beat Ann-Renée Desbiens.

Aside from the early goal, the first period was relatively quiet. Each team recorded only one shot in the first eight minutes; Montreal's power play unit was unable to muster any sustained zone pressure, and New York had a few good shorthanded rushes, but nothing dangerous. Maureen Murphy & Tereza Vanišová combined for a big chance with under five to play in the period, but couldn't beat Abbey Levy.

Instead, it was Carpenter again – this time, scoring the first jailbreak goal in PWHL New York history. Roque found the puck and skated down the ice, chased by Marie-Philip Poulin. Though her shot faltered, she regained possession of the puck as it bounced off the boards behind the net and tipped it over to Carpenter. With Desbiens moving, Carpenter sent it into the empty side of the net from the top of the slot to make it 2-0.

The second period featured end-to-end action and lots of work deep in both zones, as Montreal's Laura Stacey stepped up for several good chances. Stacey was finally rewarded with 3:56 to play in the middle frame as she scored on a laser of a shot from the faceoff dot to Levy's left. Her shot sailed past two New York players and teammate Catherine Dubois, who was parked in front of the net, and in.

Montreal continued to step up as the game went on, but Levy made big save after big save to maintain the score. Finally, it appeared that Montreal had tied it with 12:31 to play in regulation, when Poulin's shot through a crowd in front was tipped through the five hole. A lengthy review followed, determining that by the narrowest of margins, Stacey's skate had brushed Levy's stick, which was ruled goaltender interference.

Less than a minute later, Montreal scored again, and that goal was also reviewed. Vanišová was being held by a New York player as she brought the puck to the net; she got it across to Murphy in front, who backhanded it in. The net began to dislodge in the midst of the play, which led to the review. This time, it was ruled a goal, tying the game at two.

To New York's credit, they responded with a flurry of chances in the remainder of regulation, including through another power play. Montreal rang a shot off the post with 45.8 seconds left in regulation, but the game went to a fruitless overtime before heading to a shootout.

Carpenter and Roque both scored in the shootout, giving New York the win. Roque's third-round goal off a great wrist release gave her team the lead; Carpenter then scored a beautiful top-shelf goal after she got Desbiens to go down, giving them the eventual win. It was her second shot of the shootout.

Elizabeth Giguère, Poulin (twice) and Vanišová also took shots. Stacey took the final shot for Montreal, but Levy came up with a big pad save for the win.

Three up, three down

↑ Extra time – Wednesday's win marked the fourth straight New York game to require extra time to decide. Their last two games resulted in overtime wins off the stick of Alex Carpenter, and Carpenter once again came in clutch, this time in the shootout. New York has won four of its five games this season that required extra time, so they've really been able to step up when it counts most.

↓ Should this have been a goal? – Montreal's goal that was called back should be more of a discussion, as the lengthy review resulted in (my opinion) a very weak goaltender interference call. Per Jared Book after the game, Stacey said that Levy even told her she didn't think there was any contact.

↑ Home, sweet home – New York has finally won on home ice! They had lost their previous three games at home (split between UBS Arena and Total Mortgage Arena), so it had to feel good to finally get that first win. As was mentioned on the broadcast as well as in the PWHL's pre-game media release, it was a special one for New York native Abbey Levy, who grew up as an Islanders fan and notched her first home win in their NHL rink.

↓ New York's second period – Reading back through the stats, New York is really lucky to have gotten through that second period still leading. They recorded just two shots on goal in the period, which is the lowest by any team in the second period this season, and clearly not ideal when you're holding onto a narrow lead.

↑ Carpenter & Roque – What a dynamic duo. Carpenter leads the PWHL in points with 14 on the season, and is second in goal scoring (8) behind only Toronto's Natalie Spooner. Roque has eight goals, including six assists (five of which have come on Carpenter goals). When these two are on the ice together, watch out.

↓ Online scoring – This isn't the first time we've seen something get mucked up in the PWHL's online scoring followed a disallowed goal, but it's something that the league has to figure out. Poulin's disallowed goal in the third period was entered into the scoring system, which meant the online scoring then read as if Montreal was leading 3-2 the rest of the game, even in overtime and the shootout. This morning, the result (a New York shootout win) is correct, but the score reads 4-3, as the Poulin goal is still in there and a phantom Micah Zandee-Hart empty-netter was added. The league has noted the mistakes and said they will be corrected, but it's just not ideal to have this happen in the first place. It's just confusing for people who may have checked the online scoring last night to see Montreal up 3-2 at the end of regulation, but the game going to overtime, or who check this morning to see a random empty-net goal added for New York. In the future, if something like this happens again, I'd also consider putting the "public notes" at the top of the scoresheet, not buried halfway down the page.

VP's Player of the Game

Madison Packer – This one is admittedly completely unrelated to anything that happened on the ice. Packer arrived at UBS Arena on Wednesday sporting her Premier Hockey Federation Metropolitan Riveters' jersey, with the Black Rosie logo on the front, and I am here for it. What a great way to arrive for her team's Black History Month game, while boldly making sure the history of pro women's hockey doesn't get swept away.

• Game replay link (YouTube) (currently unavailable)
• Game data

(Photo: Nala Burton/PWHL)