Thanks to two goals scored at the end of the second period and colossal work shorthanded in the third period, the Montreal Victoire defeated the Boston Fleet by a score of 3-1 in front of a crowd of 10,172 spectators Monday evening at the Place Bell.
Kristin O’Neill, during a numerical inferiority, and Anna Wilgren, took turns thwarting Emma Söderberg during the last three minutes of the middle period.
Claire Dalton, at the end of the first period, scored the other goal for Victory, who climbed to the top of the standings with 13 points, one more than the Minnesota Frost.
But Victory above all surpassed itself by allowing only two shots to the Fleet in the third period, despite three numerical disadvantages including one of five minutes from the start of the engagement.
Hilary Knight was the Fleet’s only scorer against Ann-Renée Desbiens, who finished her evening’s work with 18 saves. Söderberg stopped 28 shots in the loss.
La Victoire will play its next three games abroad, in three still unexplored NHL amphitheaters. This journey will begin Sunday afternoon in Seattle, when Victory will return to the Fleet.
A high caliber goal
You don’t have to spend a lot of time on the ice to get noticed. Dalton demonstrated this towards the very end of the first period.
Used until then for less than two minutes, Dalton roused the crowd by scoring a beautiful goal with only 36.2 seconds remaining on the clock.
After recovering a puck in her territory, Dalton came along the left ramp and first used her speed to get around Sydney Bard in the Fleet zone.
Dalton then cut to the net while passing behind Jessica Digirolamo, who saw nothing, and was able to slide the puck just out of reach of Söderberg’s left pad.
This goal ended a very divided first period, spiced up by a few good hits, but also two other opportunities missed by Victory in the numerical advantage, despite five shots towards the Fleet goalkeeper.
On the other end, Desbiens has looked solid every time she has been tested. She made her best save against Suzanna Tapani — the same one who scored the goal that eliminated the Montreal team last May — with a little less than eight minutes remaining in the opening period.
Desbiens, however, had no chance on Knight’s equalizer, who cleverly deflected a pass from Hannah Bilka with the tip of the stick midway through the second period.
Then came the last three minutes of the engagement which were fertile in emotions for the Victoire players and their supporters.
During a minor penalty to Catherine Dubois with just over three minutes remaining, O’Neill came up on a breakaway and beat Söderberg with a shot over the left pad, breaking the tie and also put an end to the Fleet’s numerical advantage.
Just a few seconds earlier, Desbiens had made a key save on an awkward shot from Sidney Morin.
Just 75 seconds after O’Neill’s goal, Wilgren scored his first career goal with a wrist shot from the top.
However, in the very last seconds of the engagement, Dubois served a solid check, in the center of the ice, which literally stunned Megan Keller.
After a lengthy review with LPHF headquarters, it was determined that Dubois deserved a five-minute major penalty, which is automatically accompanied by extreme game misconduct.
As for Keller, she was on the ice to start the five-minute power play at the start of the period.
This crucial sequence was marked by colossal work from several Victory players, notably Marie-Philip Poulin, Dalton, and O’Neill.
This hard work meant that the Fleet was limited to a single shot, albeit a threatening one, from Tapani with less than 10 seconds remaining in the penalty.
Midway through the period, Victory once again completely muzzled the Fleet’s numerical advantage, and a third time during the final two minutes of the match.
