The last time PWHL Montreal hosted PWHL Boston in Verdun was for the former’s home opener, and the latter was all too happy to rain on their host’s parade with a 3-2 overtime win. Yesterday was another important day for the Montreal franchise, even if unbeknownst to most of the fans. With health issues plaguing her line-up, general manager Daniele Sauvageau had signed two reserve players on the day, a standard player agreement (SPA) with Alexandra Poznikoff and a 10-day SPA with former Team Canada forward Mélodie Daoust. Daoust’s presence overjoyed fans in the stands, and they gave her a cheer on par with Marie-Philip Poulin’s one when she was introduced, which is no small feat.
Although Daoust had been away from competition for a long time, head coach Kori Cheverie was confident in putting her on the first line with Poulin and Laura Stacey as she felt it would put her in winning conditions. Cheverie couldn’t have been more right. It took less than four minutes for the first line to open the score. Although the scoresheet shows the first tally to be an unassisted one by Poulin, it was made possible by Daoust and Stacey’s relentless forechecking. Throughout the game, the top line put all kinds of pressure on Boston’s defense.
Early in the second frame, Daoust scored her first PWHL goal on a Poulin assist to put Montreal in front 2-0. About 10 minutes later, defenseman Mariah Keopple fanned on a puck and was promptly dispossessed by Alina Müller, who created a two-on-one for Boston. Müller, the league leader in assists, sent a picture-perfect pass to captain Hilary Knight who made no mistake and cut Montreal’s lead in half. The turn of events gave everyone in the building an impression of déjà vu as it felt copy-pasted from what had transpired in Montreal’s home opener.
This time, however, Montreal did not panic and lost its lead. Defenseman Erin Ambrose put Montreal back up by two with a shot from the blue line, which netminder Aerin Frankel couldn’t spot through the screen created by Daoust. Ambrose’s defense partner, Keopple, got the primary assist on the goal, making up for her earlier blunder. Poulin also registered an assist on the play, producing three points for a second-game in a row, giving her 15 points on the season, just one short of league leader New York’s Alex Carpenter. Montreal never looked back after this goal as Boston got itself in penalty trouble and couldn’t come back.
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In net, Elaine Chuli gave another great performance, winning her fifth game in as many starts and improving her goal against average to a stingy 1.19 and her save percentage to .962. She’s the league leader in both categories and remains the only undefeated goaltender to have played a game this season.
Like every Montreal-Boston hockey game, things got quite physical at times, there was plenty of pushing and shoving on the night. Daoust got into a tussle with Hannah Brandt, while Knight and Sarah Bujold exchanged words and stick hits. Kristin O’Neil got under Jamie Lee Rattray’s skin as the Boston forward crossed-checked her as she was laying on the ice, which got Rattray a two-minute all-expenses paid trip to the box. Things could have gotten ugly in the last couple of minutes of the game. However, when Jessica Digirolamo elbowed a Montreal forward in the head, but the referees escorted her promptly to the sin bin.
Daoust was named the first star of the night and was all smiles talking to the media. When asked about her chemistry with Poulin on the first line she explained, “It’s fun, Pou and I have played a lot together in the past with Team Canada, so yeah we’ve got good chemistry on the ice but we must not forget Laura as well she does unbelievable work on the forecheck for which she doesn’t get enough credit, but she’s the one feeding us the puck so that we can make plays. It was fun to be reunited on the first line.” Asked about the physicality of the league, Daoust smiled and said, “I love it, I love it and I believe the physical aspect of the game was something that was lacking in our game and it makes every game really interesting.”
As for the third star, Chuli when asked how she deals with having two “hot” goalies on the team she explained, “There’s nothing to deal with for me, I think it’s great. Like, we’re in first place so we’re both on and it makes for a dangerous combo.” A sentiment echoed by Cheverie who said she doesn’t lose any sleep picking a starting goaltender. While Daoust wouldn’t confirm if she’ll be joining the team on the road, Cheverie stated that when the team activates a reserve player, its expected they will be available.
Montreal will now head to New York where they’ll play on Wednesday night before going to Toronto for the second and last stop of their road trip on Friday. Then, the team will come back home to face Ottawa in Laval on Sunday night. With three games in five days, Daoust’s addition couldn’t be more timely.