MONTRÉAL, QC (April 18, 2024) – Erin Ambrose had a league-high four assists and Kristin O’Neill scored twice, including the game-winner with 46 seconds remaining in the third period, as Montréal won 4-3 against Minnesota on Thursday at Verdun Auditorium.
Laura Stacey and Marie-Philip Poulin added three points each to help Montréal end a four-game losing streak — Poulin missed Montréal’s previous three games due to injury. Minnesota entered the game on a five-game winning streak.
O’Neill opened the scoring with a powerplay goal at 7:22 of the first period to give Montréal a 1-0 lead. Poulin and Ambrose got the assists on the play, as O’Neill jammed in her own rebound past Minnesota goaltender Maddie Rooney.
Ambrose’s second assist of the game came at 17:52 of the first period on Montréal’s second powerplay goal of the game, this time off Poulin’s stick, which gave the home team a 2-0 lead.
Poulin started the play by getting the puck to Stacey at the point, who tapped it to Ambrose at the left hash marks. Ambrose quickly got the puck to Poulin, who had made her way to the slot, and the captain one-timed it into the net to make the game 2-0.
Minnesota scored three straight goals in the second period to make the game 3-2.
Down by one, Montréal pulled goaltender Elaine Chuli with nearly three minutes remaining in the third period for the 6-on-5 advantage, and it was Stacey who provided the game-tying goal at 17:37.
Poulin and Ambrose each recorded their third points of the game on the goal, as they picked up the assists.
After receiving the puck from Poulin, Ambrose fed the puck to Stacey who blasted a one-timer from the top of the circle, which sailed over Rooney’s shoulder to tie the game 3-3.
Montréal completed the comeback with 46 seconds remaining in the third period— their third powerplay goal of the game.
After Poulin entered the offensive zone with the puck, she once again fed Ambrose at the point. The defender then passed the puck to Stacey who found O’Neill in the slot. O’Neill took a quick shot that deflected off a player in front and bounced over Rooney’s shoulder.
With four assists, Ambrose is the first PWHL player to record four points in a game.
Minnesota’s Sophie Jaques assisted on all three Minnesota goals, a season-high for the defender. She became the second PWHL defender to record three assists in a single game, joining Ella Shelton of New York — Ambrose tied then surpassed the mark in the third period.
Grace Zumwinkle scored Minnesota’s first goal, a powerplay marker in the second period, which cut Montréal’s lead to 2-1, her tenth goal of the season.
Kelly Pannek tied the game at 9:23 of the second, deflecting Jaques’ point shot. Kendall Coyne Schofield recorded the secondary assist on the play, her fifth straight game with a helper.
Minnesota got its first lead of the game less than two minutes later, at 10:47 of the middle frame, as Brooke Bryant scored her first-ever PWHL goal, tapping in a pass from Taylor Heise, who found Bryant back-door on the rush.
Chuli made 25 saves and recorded her sixth win of the season. Rooney stopped 33 of 37 for her first loss since February 18.
With the regulation win, Montréal now sits just one point behind Minnesota for second place and two points behind Toronto for first place.
Up next, Montréal hosts Toronto at the Bell Centre on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. ET for the “Duel at the Top.” Later that evening, Minnesota continues their road trip, with a tilt against Ottawa at 7:00 p.m. ET at The Arena at TD Place.
Postgame Quotes:
Montréal forward Kristin O’Neill: “Being able to contribute on offence at the World Championship really helped my confidence and I made it a goal of mine to bring that confidence back to this team in Montréal. A switch just flipped in all of us and we were really determined to win that game. It was great to get on the scoreboard but we really won as a team.”
Montréal captain Marie-Philip Poulin on O’Neill: “KO is someone that since Day 1 I told her how happy I was that she was on our team. She’s determined, she knows how to do the little details right. At the beginning of the season, people were saying ‘why isn’t she scoring’ but it was a matter of time. She does everything right game after game, day after day, and to have her on the powerplay, the way she put that puck in right away, just to put pressure… It would have been easy for her to pull out and make a pass, but she attacked and got that goal and got us going right away. The way she holds herself accountable every day, she makes us better every day. She’s one of the leaders on this team.”
Minnesota head coach Ken Klee: “We’ve got a really good group, a resilient group, and we know there are going to be games that have ebbs and flows. I really like the way we responded and we played a great third period. Unfortunately, they get two in the last three minutes to win the game. You know the game as a whole, we did a lot of good things. Their powerplay was just buzzing. We missed clears and they made us pay for it.”
Notes:
- Attendance: 3,084 – Verdun Auditorium, Montréal, QC.
- Three Stars: 1) Kristin O’Neill 2) Marie-Philip Poulin 3) Erin Ambrose
- Shots ended 37-28 in favour of Montréal as the team led the category in each period (11-8/13-12/13-8)
- O’Neill and Laura Stacey led all players with seven shots each – Ambrose added six shots on goal, a season-high for the defender.
- Kendall Coyne Schofield led all Minnesota players with four shots on goal.
- Montréal was 3/4 on the powerplay — Minnesota was 1/2.
- Montréal’s three powerplay goals is the most the team has scored in a single game this season and is tied for the league’s single game record.
- O’Neill becomes the third player to score two powerplay goals in a single game this season – This was her first multi-point game of the season.
- Minnesota entered the game 0/14 on the powerplay against Montréal.
- Minnesota loses a game in regulation for the first time when leading after two periods – Montréal wins for the first time when trailing after two periods.
- Montréal leads the league with eight one-goal victories.
- Minnesota’s three goals in the second period is the most the team has scored in a single period all season.
- Ambrose moves into first place in PWHL scoring among defenders with 14 points (3G, 11A) and sits ninth in scoring among all skaters — She also sits tied for first in the PWHL in assists with 11.
- Poulin has 20 points on the season (9G, 11A) and moves into a tie with Natalie Spooner (TOR) for first in league scoring — Poulin’s 1.18 points-per-game leads all PWHL players.
- Poulin now has four multi-point games in her last five games played — She has seven multi-point games this season.
- Stacey’s season-high three points moves her into a tie for ninth in league scoring with 14 points (8G, 6A).
- Elaine Chuli is tied for fourth in the league with six wins.
- Kendall Coyne Schofield extends her point streak to five games (2G, 5A) — She also becomes the first PWHL player to record at least one assist in five straight games.
- Coyne Schofield now sits tied for sixth in league scoring with 15 points (6G, 9A) and is tied with a PWHL-best plus-14 rating.
- Jaques now has a four-game assist streak (6A) — She became the second defender this season to record three assists in a game, joining Ella Shelton who had three against Minnesota on January 14.
- Jaques sits in a three-way tie for fourth in scoring among PWHL defenders with 10 points (2G, 8A).
- Grace Zumwinkle sits second in the PWHL with 10 goals and is tied for fourth in scoring with 17 points.
- Natalie Buchbinder’s point streak ends at four games (1G, 3A).
- Montréal wins the season series 10-5 in points over Minnesota.
- Montréal (8-3-4-5) collects three points for the regulation win and remain in third place with 34 points — They sit seven points up on fourth place Ottawa and are just two behind Toronto and on behind Minnesota.
- Minnesota (8-4-3-5) remains in second place with 35 points, one ahead of Montréal and one behind Toronto — All three teams have four games remaining.
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