ANALYSIS – The Montréal Victoire’s third line was fantastic on Wednesday night as they gave the Toronto Sceptres trouble all game long. That line and Marie-Philip Poulin’s acrobatic goal, was two reasons why Montreal came up on top over Toronto.
Three Keys to the Montréal Victoire Win Over the Toronto Sceptres
Montréal Victoire’s Third Line Played Huge Role in Win
The first two Montréal Victoire goals came from the third line. Mikyla Grant-Mentis scored the first goal from a broken pass. Other goals include:
- Grant-Mentis passing the puck to Claire Dalton for the second goal of the game.
- There was another play where Alexandra Labelle was all alone thanks to a fantastic pass delivered by Grant-Mentis.
Montréal Victoire’s Marie-Philip Poulin Scored A World-Class Goal
Marie-Philip Poulin delivered what might be a highlight-reel goal of the game. Scoring her goal while having both knees down ended up being the difference of the game. This is how the Toronto Star described the goal scored by Poulin (Source: Gemma Karstens-Smith The Canadian Press of the Toronto Star):
It is also important to note that Poulin scored the empty netter to ice the game for the Victoire.
Montréal Victoire Goaltender, Ann-Renée Desbiens, Stepped Up
Ann-Renée Desbiens made some big saves. Some of these saves included:
- Made a big save on Blayre Turnbull from a dangerous part of the ice.
- An acrobatic save on Hayley Scamurra’s shot on goal.
Desbeins only gave up two goals when the Sceptres had over 30 shots on goal. This included long stretches of the game, where Desbeins had to be sharp when Toronto was the only team creating the offence in Vancouver.
Other Factors: Toronto Sceptres Kept Desbeins Guessing
The two Sceptres goal came from fooling Desbeins on the release of the shot. These led to the two goals Toronto scored in Vancouver. These examples include:
- Daryl Watts fooled Desbeins before releasing her shot, which just got past Desbeins.
- Jesse Compher fooled Desbeins as she decided not to go for the pass and shot the puck past the goaltender.
Both these goals gave the Sceptres a chance to tie the game before the third period ended. Unfortunately, the bad start by Toronto was too much to overcome.
As for Vancouver being a potential PWHL market, they really showcased themselves on Wednesday night as Rogers Arena was sold-out. This type of attendance has even caught the eyes of Jayna Hefford, the current chairperson of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (Source: Offside on January 8, 2025):
There is still the serious problem with travel, as only the Minnesota Frost is located in the West, and even then, it is still quite far from Vancouver. Still, it is a positive development for the city of Vancouver, who likely put themselves as one of the front-runners for a PWHL team in Western North America.
Games Coming Up for Both Teams
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The Sceptres next game will be against the New York Sirens at the Prudential Center on January 12, before travelling to Canada’s capital to face the Ottawa Charge at the TD Place Arena on January 14.
The game on January 12 will take place at 12:00pm ET while the game on January 14 will take place at 7:00pm ET.
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This is while the Victoire will travel to face the Minnesota Frost on January 12 at 3:00pm ET (1:00pm ET), before hosting Minnesota on January 17 at 7:00pm ET.
The game on January 12 will take place at the Ball Arena and the game on January 17 will take place at Place Bell. Both games will be shown live on TSN, RDS, and the FanDuel Sports Network.
Photo Credit: Montréal Victoire X Account on January 8, 2025.