LAVAL, Que. — Marie-Philip Poulin scored a hat trick to lead the red-hot Montreal Victoire past the Ottawa Charge 4-1 on Wednesday night in the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
The Victoire captain — with six goals in her last five games — took the league lead with eight this season for Montreal (7-2-1-2), which leapfrogged Minnesota for first place in the six-team PWHL despite playing three fewer games.
Jennifer Gardiner also scored and provided assists on two of Poulin’s goals before 6,150 at Place Bell.
Ann-Renée Desbiens made 31 saves for her league-leading seventh win as Montreal remained undefeated in four games against Ottawa this season.
Former Montreal winger Tereza Vanisova replied for Ottawa (5-0-2-7), which lost for the fifth time in six games.
Gwyneth Philips stopped nine of 12 shots before getting pulled. Emerance Maschmeyer saved all 20 she faced the rest of the way.
Trailing 1-0, the Victoire scored three times in eight minutes to take a 3-1 lead that they never gave up. Poulin scored her second of the night on the power play 10:12 into the middle frame, triggering Ottawa’s goalie swap.
Poulin added her third goal into an empty net for the first hat trick this PWHL season.
Takeaways
Victoire: Kept rolling with Laura Stacey out. The Victoire, who returned to play after a 10-day break, won their third game in a row without their alternate captain in the lineup due to a lower-body injury.
Charge: Scoring woes continued, largely because Desbiens looked like a brick wall. The Charge only built a 1-0 advantage in the first period despite dominating the shots 15-6 as Desbiens kept the Victoire in the game before they rallied back.
Key moment
Shortly after Ottawa’s Emily Clark missed a breakaway with the Charge up 1-0, Poulin evened the score by teeing up a blistering one-timer 2:09 into the second to get the Victoire rolling.
Key stat
Ottawa is averaging 1.78 goals per game. The Charge are the only team that hasn’t registered more than three goals in a game this season. The power play hasn’t helped, converting at a league-low 11.1 per cent.
Up next
Victoire: Host the Toronto Sceptres on Thursday.
Charge: Visit the Sceptres on Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 29, 2025.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
