Montreal’s Ann-Renee Desbiens earns first PWHL shutout in 2-0 victory over Ottawa

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Ann-Renee Desbiens posted the first shutout of her Professional Women’s Hockey League career in Montreal’s 2-0 win over Ottawa on Saturday.

Desbiens, who backstopped Canada to a gold medal in the world championship final earlier this month, stopped all 31 shots she faced.

“It’s not so much the shutout as much as the win,” said Desbiens. “If it helped us win, I’ll take it.”

Laura Stacey and Maureen Murphy scored for Montreal (10-3-5-5), which has a playoff spot secured in the PWHL’s inaugural season.

Ottawa’s Emerance Maschmeyer, the No. 2 goalie on the Canadian team, turned away 21 shots.

A playoff spot remained in Ottawa’s reach with two games remaining in its regular season.

The loss in front of an announced 8,452 at TD Place snapped a four-game win streak for Ottawa (8-1-6-7).

Trailing 1-0, Ottawa came out flying in the third looking for the equalizer.

They outshot Montreal 9-1 by the halfway mark of the period, but were unable to beat Desbiens.

Hayley Scamurra had two great chances in front and couldn’t beat a sprawled Desbiens.

“She’s a world class goalie and she kept her team in it today, particularly in the third,” Ottawa’s coach Carla MacLeod said. “We had our chances though and today the puck didn’t go in, but that’s part of our world and sometimes that happens in a game.”

Ottawa’s Savannah Harmon appeared to score with 5:58 remaining, but it was waived off upon review for goalie interference.

Desbiens felt she’d been bumped on the play. She asked Montreal head coach Korie Cheverie to call for a review.

“It was a bit of a mutual decision,” Desbiens said. “I looked at the play on the video screen and so did she and I think she was a little uncertain, but I was the one in the net. For me, it was evident.

“They’re always calls that you never know which way they’re going to go but today it made the difference in the game.”

Montreal made it 2-0 when Melodie Daoust fed Murphy in the slot with 1:48 remaining.

After a solid first period, Ottawa struggled in the second when it was outshot 10-2 and gave up the opening goal.

“The second period was pretty rough,” said Ottawa’s Daryl Watts. “We all know where we struggled and what we need to do better and how we need to play moving forward in the second to not lose all momentum.”

Montreal took a 1-0 lead off a turnover by Aneta Tejralova that led to Stacey stepping in for a one-timer from the slot at 3:13 for her 10th goal of the season.

The game was the first between the two teams since Ottawa acquired Czech forward Tereza Vanisova from Montreal in exchange for Amanda Boulier.

UP NEXT

Montreal visits Boston on May 4.

Ottawa visits New York on Tuesday.

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AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey

The Associated Press