PWHL Montreal became the second team in the league to clinch a playoff berth, while New York was eliminated from playoff contention in Wednesday's 5-2 decision at Verdun Auditorium.
What happened?
While New York dominated the first period in shots, it felt like Montreal had the better chances. However, no one could've predicted the first goal. With just under seven minutes to play in the opening frame, Catherine Daoust shot the puck into the zone from near the red line. Corinne Schroeder came out of the net, expecting the puck to come around and behind; instead, it bounced off the glass, came straight out and went in.
For New York, it was an incredibly unfortunate bounce, and that happens sometimes. Thankfully for them, I suppose, it wasn't the game-deciding goal, because that would've been a really tough one to swallow. (It's a silver lining, at least.)
Montreal really came out full force in the second period, and New York seemed to falter. With three goals in a span of 5:36, Montreal took the game over. They also held New York without a shot on goal for about 12 minutes of play.
Kristen O'Neill struck first at 9:10, picking up a pass from Marie-Philip Poulin at the bottom of the faceoff circle to Schroeder's left, then walking in to the front of the net and stuffing home a rebound. Just a few minutes later, Catherine Dubois capitalized on another rebound that initiated from an Amanda Boulier shot from the point.
Laura Stacey capped it off with her ninth of the season, which ties her for the team lead in goals. On the power play, Stacey ripped a one-timer from the top of the faceoff circle to the goaltender's right. Schroeder may have been screened, but either way, this positioned Montreal well for the rest of the game.
New York defender Ella Shelton broke Ann-Renée Desbiens' shutout bid with 13 seconds left in the second period. After breaking up a Montreal play in the far end of the ice, Shelton carried the puck up on a breakaway, popping it in over the goalie's right shoulder.
To their credit, New York never stopped pushing, no matter how desperate they became. Head coach Howie Draper pulled Schroeder for the extra attacker when the team went on the power play with over 14 minutes left in regulation – a risky, but no doubted calculated, move. New York just couldn't muster enough to beat Desbiens to make it matter, despite outshooting their opponent 12-3 in the third.
Alexandra Labelle scored her first PWHL goal in the dying minutes of the game, a jailbreak tally on a rebound with pressure in front of the net. That was as close as New York would get, though, and Mélodie Daoust added an empty-netter late to seal the win.
Three up, three down
↑ Montreal clinches – With Wednesday's win, Montreal has clinched their spot in the Walter Cup playoffs. They're also tied with Toronto for first place in the standings, though Toronto has a game in hand. When all is said and done, the first-place team will a) get to select its playoff opponent, from the third and fourth seeds, and b) have home-ice advantage in the playoffs and finals.
↓ New York eliminated – New York has become the first team to be eliminated from playoff contention, activating the "Gold Plan." Beginning with their next game – and with three games left in the regular season – they will earn draft order points. Being the first team eliminated may have its perks, as they'll have more time than the other non-playoff team (TBD) to earn points. The team with the most will earn the #1 overall pick in the draft, and first selection in each subsequent round.
↑ Mélodie Daoust returns – Daoust signed a 10-day contract with Montreal, her second short-term contract of the season. She was previously on the team's reserve player list and, in her first stint with the team, had two goals in three games. The new contract makes her eligible to play the remainder of the regular season, and she would be eligible to sign another 10-day deal for the playoffs.
↓ New York's power play – The "advantage" wasn't much of one for New York on Wednesday, as they went 0-for-5 on the power play. It's atypical of them, as they've actually had the second-best power play in the league this season (21.7%) but things just weren't going their way.
↑ Great fans in Montreal – All right, so it wasn't the 20,000+ crowd that was at Centre Bell the other night, but the crowd at Verdun Auditorium was still rocking. From singing along to John Denver to a number of great signs and the infamous Olé, Olé, Olé chants as the game came to its end, the 3,232 fans in attendance were loud and proud in Montreal's final regular-season home game. Something that will be interesting to watch: where will Montreal play its home playoff games? The atmosphere in Verdun is amazing, but it's small. Place Bell is bigger, but we can't forget that Montreal sold out the Bell Centre for a regular season game – and the Bell Centre event calendar is conspicuously empty between May 2 and May 24.
↓ O'Neill struggles in the dot – Kristin O'Neill struggled a bit in the faceoff circle for Montreal on Wednesday. She took 16 draws and won just four of them (25%). By percentage, it's her worst game of the season in that regard. In contrast, she won 54.5 percent of the 33 draws she took in Montreal's last game.
VP's Player of the Game
Erin Ambrose - Ambrose had two assists in Wednesday's win. She now has 17 points on the season, including 13 assists. I think about Jocelyne Larocque's quote at Worlds, where she said she doesn't think you could play at such a high level and just be a defensive defenseman. Ambrose – who leads all PWHL defenders in points – is the perfect example of a two-way player, contributing at both ends of the ice.
- Game replay link (YouTube) – The PWHL has started posting "condensed game archive" video, after taking their videos private after broadcast as of late. Check their video uploads page for the game archive content as it becomes available. (This game is not yet as of press time.)
- Game data
(Photo: PWHL)
