The Montreal Victoire are playoff-bound again in the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
They’re also surging with the post-season on the horizon — and doing it without their most valuable player.
Hayley Scamurra scored twice and Ann-Renee Desbiens made 18 saves as the Victoire blanked the Vancouver Goldeneyes 3-0 on Wednesday night in Laval, Que., extending their point streak to a league-record 12 games.
“I’m really proud of this group,” coach Kori Cheverie said. “We’ve done it through a lot of adversity, through a lot of injuries, and it just seems like whoever we put on the ice and put in the lineup, they’re able to get it done for us.
“That’s a gritty team. That’s a team that plays with character.”
The Victoire (13-4-2-5), second in the eight-team PWHL with six regular-season games remaining, are 4-0-1-0 since captain Marie-Philip Poulin exited a 4-3 overtime loss to Boston with a lower-body injury on March 15.
The 12-game run has also included eight straight contests without top defender Erin Ambrose, who returned in a limited role Wednesday.
“It really shows the depth that this team has,” said Desbiens, who recorded her sixth shutout of the season. “Important pieces can be out of our lineup, but we still manage to get points, to fight, to be difficult to play against. It helped us to break that record, and we take a lot of pride in that.”
Montreal secures a place in the Walter Cup Playoffs for the third straight year with a 3-0 victory over Vancouver.
Laura Stacey, who assisted on both of Scamurra’s goals to give her six points in five games without Poulin, highlighted contributions from across the lineup.
Catherine Dubois jumped from 13th forward to first-line winger in recent games, scoring four goals in a four-game stretch. On Wednesday, Scamurra slotted in as the top-line centre after beginning the season on the wing.
“We can’t do her job. None of us can. She’s the best player in the world for a reason,” Stacey said of Poulin. “But what we can do is find a way to show up and be the best version of us every night. If we do that, then that void or that irreplaceable spot gets a little bit smaller.”
Montreal didn’t clinch in style, grinding out a win in a physical, low-event game marked by disjointed play and missed power-play opportunities.
Scamurra finally broke the deadlock 8:28 into the third period. Stacey found her alone in the slot to give Montreal a lead it never surrendered after Desbiens held the pressing Goldeneyes off the board in a sluggish second period for the Victoire.
“They’re fighting for their lives in the playoffs and we were fighting, we knew what was on the line and we really wanted to clinch tonight, so it was a pretty physical battle,” Stacey said. “We talked about it in the room, at the end of the day good teams find a way to win and that’s exactly what we did.”
The Victoire will head to the post-season for a third straight year after back-to-back semifinal exits as the higher seed.
Stacey said “consistency” and “playing 60 minutes,” unlike Wednesday’s effort, is the key to being playoff-ready as Montreal looks to reverse its fortunes this year.
“We want to keep improving, keep taking steps forward, building that chemistry with different players so that when we get into the playoffs and we get in those tough battles, we’re ready,” she said. “Continuously getting better versus taking our foot off the gas.”
Cheverie, meanwhile, is focused on player recovery and getting her players to “100 per cent” once the calendar flips to May.
“There’s a lot of players on every team who play the season that are not at 100 per cent, and so we have to manage those,” she said. “We have to give people the time that they need. We still have to keep them sharp as well. We want to be sharp for playoffs.
“But we’ll do our best to continue to win every game that we’re in because I think that mentally sets us up for success too.”
Poulin remains on long-term injured reserve until at least Sunday.
Sceptres 2, Charge 1
Claire Dalton broke a tie 57 seconds into the third period with her first PWHL goal and the Toronto Sceptres beat the Ottawa Charge 2-1 on Wednesday night in a Takeover Tour game in Calgary that drew 16,150 fans to the Saddledome.
Dalton also assisted on Maggie Connors’ first-period goal. Connors set up Dalton’s goal, and captain Blayre Turnbull assisted on both goals to help Toronto move past Ottawa into fourth place.
Raygan Kirk made 28 saves, allowing only Fanuza Kadirova’s tying goal late in the first period. Gwyneth Philips stopped 22 shots for Ottawa.
Toronto defeats Ottawa 2-1 at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary for a PWHL Takeover Tour game. The Sceptres move into fourth place in the standings, while the Charge drop to 5th place but are one point behind Toronto and have a game in hand.
Sirens 4, Frost 3 (OT)
Sarah Fillier scored two goals 14 seconds apart in the third period and she completed her first PWHL hat trick in overtime as the New York Sirens ended a four-game skid with a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Frost on Wednesday night in Newark, N.J.
New York (8-1-3-12) won at the Prudential Center for the first time since March 8 when Fillier had two goals and three points.
Minnesota (11-3-4-6) has lost three straight games for the first time this season.
The Sirens fell behind 1-0 just 16 seconds into the game as Taylor Heise scored on the first shot of the game.
Listen in to the best on-ice moments from Nina Jobst-Smith as the Vancouver Goldeneyes lose to the Minnesota Frost 3-1.
Minnesota forward Grace Zumwinkle scored the only goal of the second period and she added another 44 seconds into the third for a 3-1 lead. Five of her 11 goals this season have come against New York.
Fillier started the comeback by jumping out of the penalty box, intercepting the puck and scoring on a breakaway to get within 3-2 with 7:40 to go. Then she sent in a rebound to tie it seconds later.
In overtime, Fillier received a pass from Maja Nylen Persson and flicked it over the glove of Maddie Rooney for her seventh goal in the last six games.
Minnesota had won the three previous meetings with New York this season. Zumwinkle scored twice when the teams met in the Denver Takeover Tour game in March. She has seven points in four games against the Sirens this season.
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