LOWELL — It wouldn’t have been a real Boston-Montreal ice conflict with out further hockey.
The Boston Fleet and the Montreal Victoire’s final three conferences had gone previous regulation getting into Tuesday’s Skilled Girls’s Hockey League contest on the Tsongas Heart, the longest energetic streak within the league.
So it was no shock when the groups had been deadlocked at a 2-2 rating after 60 minutes of regulation and 5 minutes of time beyond regulation to yield a shootout.
And it was additionally no shock Hilary Knight had her title written everywhere in the victory. Recording a objective and an help whereas going 1-for-2 within the shootout, one other masterful efficiency by Boston’s franchise centerpiece was on full show in Boston’s 3-2 win in entrance of three,375 followers.
Every workforce had six makes an attempt within the shootout. For Boston (8-6-4-6), Alina Müller, Knight, and Susanna Tapani lit the lamp, whereas Erin Ambrose and Marie-Philip Poulin scored for Montreal (10-6-3-5). However Poulin wouldn’t beat Emma Söderberg twice — she stoned Montreal’s celebrity to clinch the win after making 26 saves.
“Always for us being at home is very special and having our fans showing up always gives us that little extra energy,” Söderberg stated. “They come back to a 2-2 game, but the crowd still believes in us and gives us that little extra push toward the end.”
Knight entered Tuesday with 12 targets and 12 assists whereas on the forefront of Boston’s playoff push, notching seven factors in her final three video games. Boston’s captain opened the scoring earlier than helping on Tapani’s tally and unleashing a booming slap shot labeled to the highest proper nook within the shootout to extend Boston’s unbeaten streak on residence ice on the Tsongas Heart to seven video games.
Boston downed Montreal within the PWHL postseason en path to its journey to the Walter Cup Finals. Fleet head coach Courtney Kessel has solely seen the rivalry mature since then.
“We saw it in playoffs last year as well, lots of overtime. (They’re) a very structured team, hard to get pucks to the net and I think we have it out for each other. It seems to be a little bit of a rivalry,” Kessel stated.
Added Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie: “I think our team shows good character against this Boston team. We seem to bring more physicality when we play them, so I would attribute it to more of a tight-checking game.”
Montreal was assessed 4 penalties within the first interval — together with a pair of consecutive infractions to yield a five-on-three — nevertheless it wasn’t till the final minor penalty of the interval that the Fleet took benefit of.
After Catherine Dubois went to the field for tripping at 18:40, Knight deflected a shot from the purpose by Sidney Morin with 51.2 seconds remaining within the body to interrupt the ice in Lowell and convert on the facility play.
Morin’s wrist shot got here off her stick projecting to achieve the highest half of the online, however a superbly positioned Knight within the slot redirected the crusing shot into the netting.
“She’s one of the most prolific goal scorers I think in women’s ice hockey history, and we’ve seen it on the world stage and the Olympics stage. And thankfully she’s on our team,” Kessel stated.
Söderberg made three stops on a Montreal energy play simply 1:41 into the center body, however the guests knotted the sport with 13:52 to play within the interval when Lina Ljungblom discovered Amanda Boulier uncovered in entrance of the online for her first tally of the season.
However Knight linked with Tapani in transition to ship her on a partial breakaway simply over 5 minutes later. Tapani collected the puck within the slot earlier than unleashing a wrist shot into the highest proper nook of the cage to pot her tenth objective of the season whereas offering Boston with a 2-1 lead at 11:47.
The one-goal cushion didn’t final lengthy. Boston was whistled for a penalty with 4:30 left within the body, and Montreal made them pay for it as Anna Wilgren discovered twine to knot the sport at 2-2 forward of the third.
“We can’t get complacent at all,” Kessel stated. “I think we’ve had a good stretch here the last 12 or so games, but we’re not done. I think it’s just the start of us getting our confidence going and continuing to lead us through these next six (games).”
Initially Revealed:
