Marie-Philip Poulin scored the shootout winner for the Montreal Victoire in a 4-3 win over the Ottawa Charge in a thrilling season-opener for both teams Saturday.
The Victoire captain buried the only goal of the five-round shootout after missing a previous attempt and a breakaway late in overtime.
Jennifer Gardiner, Laura Stacey and Abigail Boreen scored in regulation for Montreal (0-1-0-0) before a crowd of 10,033 at Place Bell. Goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens stopped 29 shots.
Tereza Vanisova, Danielle Serdachny and Emily Clark scored in regulation for Ottawa (0-0-1-0), which missed the playoffs last season.
Ottawa’s goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer was a hard worker with 42 saves.
Clark opened the scoring 7:49 into the first period after her open-ice hit on Victoire forward Kristin O’Neill went unpenalized.
WATCH | Fans buzzing over Victoire:
CBC’s Kwabena Oduro spoke to Montrealers who are eager to see what their team has in store for the second season of the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
Serdachny, drafted second overall in this year’s draft, doubled the lead 2:20 into the second with her first in the PWHL. The Edmonton forward’s pass in front deflected off the skate of Montreal’s Kati Tabin and into the net.
Boreen responded at 5:35 by capitalizing off a neutral-zone turnover and ripping a shot top corner to animate the home crowd. Stacey followed suit by cranking one off the crossbar and in on the power play at 11:28 to tie the game.
The Charge re-took the lead when Vanisova on a breakaway beat Desbiens for a power-play goal at 17:28.
Gardiner drew the hosts even with another power-play goal at 11:20 of the third. She scored on a pass from fellow Ohio State alum Cayla Barnes.
WATCH | Way too early PWHL predictions:
Host Anastasia Bucsis is joined by PWHL insider Karissa Donkin as they give their early predictions ahead of the 2nd PWHL seasons.
Takeaways
Victoire: First-round draft pick Barnes drew into the lineup after missing nearly all of training camp with a lower-body injury.
Charge: Captain Brianne Jenner, who led the team with 20 points last season, was out for the game with an upper-body injury.
Key moment
In the dying seconds of overtime, Poulin powered her way to a breakaway after a strong backcheck, but didn’t beat Maschmeyer.
Key stat
The Victoire dominated in shots on net by a 36-19 margin through two periods, but Maschmeyer held the Charge in the game. Ottawa’s netminder repelled 19 shots in the first period.
Up next
Victoire: Host the New York Sirens on Wednesday.
Charge: Host the Toronto Sceptres in their home opener Tuesday.