Marie-Philip Poulin scores in triple OT, Victoire tie series with Frost

LAVAL, Que. — Marie-Philip Poulin is no stranger to big goals, but never one this late.

Poulin, known as “Captain Clutch,” scored at 4:02 of the third overtime period as the Montreal Victoire defeated the Minnesota Frost 1-0 in Game 2 of the Professional Women’s Hockey League semifinal series on Tuesday.

Laura Stacey entered the zone, then slowed down and passed it back to Abby Roque. She made a cross-ice pass as Poulin fired a one-timer from the right circle that beat Maddie Rooney. It was her first career PWHL playoff overtime goal.

Montreal’s win is significant as it evens the best-of-five showdown at 1-1 as the series shifts to Minnesota for the next two games. The Frost won Game 1 on Saturday, 5-4 in overtime.

“Tonight’s win gives us momentum,” Poulin said. “We wanted to win at home in front of our fans, we gave them practically two games in one. We’ll celebrate it, but we’ll go to Minnesota and do the work there.”

Poulin, who missed 10 of the final 11 games of the regular season, appeared to be in pain at points over Tuesday’s contest, pushing through the lower-body injury that kept her out of the lineup.

“You look to the left and to the right at all my teammates, we’re proud to play for the logo on the jersey,” Poulin said. “That’s playoff hockey, it’s not always perfect, sometimes it will hurt, those are the moments where you dig deep.”

Ann-Renee Desbiens made 38 saves to record the shutout, just three days after allowing five goals in Game 1 for the first time in her PWHL career.

“I wasn’t really worried,” said Desbiens. “It’s not like I have a habit of stringing poor performances together.”

It was the seventh straight playoff game requiring overtime for the Frost dating back to last season.

“It’s what you play for all year,” said Minnesota forward Kelly Pannek. “To give yourself a chance. We just weren’t on the right side of it tonight, but I was really proud of the way our team played.”

Both goaltenders were great in the game. Rooney made 51 saves in the loss. It was the third playoff game in league history to go without a regulation goal, and the second time Rooney was one of the goaltenders.

Montreal took another step in overtime, outshooting Minnesota 25-11 in the 44:02 of extra hockey. They also earned a power play 7:35 into the first overtime but could not capitalize. The shots were 27-27 after regulation time.

“We kept getting better as the game went on, which was great to see,” said Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie. “It felt like we were back to our regular selves, which has taken a couple of games.”

Minnesota had a power-play opportunity in the final period to try and break the deadlock but was unable to get one past Desbiens. In fact, the best scoring chance of the advantage came from Montreal’s Stacey whose backhand shot just went wide on a breakaway. The shots in the period were 5-5, but neither team came much closer to ending it in regulation.

The opening frame saw three power plays between the teams, but neither was able to score. Montreal had more of the run of play after the Minnesota power play, earning two advantages of its own and outshooting the Frost 10-0 over the final 10:33 of the period.

The best scoring chances of the period came from Shiann Darkangelo and Dara Greig for Montreal and Katy Knoll and Kendall Coyne Schofield for Minnesota, but Rooney and Desbiens were unbeatable.

In the second period, Desbiens made a save on a Sidney Morin shot, followed by two consecutive saves on Pannek.

Later in the period, after a Poulin point shot, the puck was loose just outside the blue paint, finding its way eventually to a pinching Kati Tabin whose backhand attempt slid into Rooney’s stomach as she was sprawled on the ice.

Frost forward Britta Curl-Salemme served her one-game suspension on Tuesday.

Montreal rookie defender Nicole Gosling has been put in a lot of different situations this year, but none like Tuesday. She ended the game with 43:27 of ice time, including 19:01 in overtime. It was the most of any Victoire player and only behind Minnesota’s Lee Stecklein (47:05) overall.

“Typically, we want to try to shelter her at times but there was no sheltering tonight,” Cheverie said. “She kept going and going and she was someone who kept getting better and better.”

There is not much time to rest and recover for both teams. They will travel on Wednesday. Game 3 in the series is Thursday at the Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Minn. Game 4 of the series, which is now necessary, will be the following night.

The Frost now have home-ice advantage.

“Playoff hockey, I think it’s key for teams to get a split when you start on the road. We just have to recharge, reset, and obviously it’ll be a big game on Thursday night,” said Minnesota head coach Ken Klee.