Montreal Holds Off Surging Sceptres to Earn Victory in Vancouver

The PWHL Takeover Tour made its second Western stop on Wednesday night at Rogers Arena in Vancouver where the Montreal Victoire met up with the Toronto Sceptres.

Montreal was looking for redemption after losing the first game of the tour in Seattle, and looking to regain first place overall after the Minnesota Frost grabbed the top spot with their win earlier in the evening. For Toronto, mired in last place, resetting their game and collecting points was their top priority.

Kristen Campbell returned to the net for the Sceptres after rookie Raygan Kirk took over for the last three games, including the shootout loss in the two teams’ previous meeting.

In the first, both teams played a loose, slightly disconnected game, with numerous battles along the boards and giveaways on each side. At five minutes into the frame, the Victoire’s Mikyla Grant-Mentis waited in the neutral zone for a long pass and got the puck on her stick to break in alone past two rookie defenders, Rylind MacKinnon (a B.C. native) and Lauren Bernard. She buried a stick-side shot past Campbell.

Jenn Gardiner of the Victoire was noticeable all over the ice as she skated in front of her hometown friends and family. Laura Stacey had the next dangerous chance when Marie-Philip Poulin delivered another long breakaway pass, but this time, Campbell made a nice save.

The teams traded power-play chances, but neither side cashed in on their opportunities. Shots were 9-6 in favor of Montreal.

In the second period, Grant-Mentis figured again in the scoring at 2:26 when she deked the Sceptres’ defenders behind the net and dished the puck out to an open Claire Dalton who made no mistake firing the puck quickly through Campbell to make it 2-0.

Toronto’s captain Blayne Turnbull had a huge opportunity a couple of minutes later skating in alone but couldn’t beat Ann-Renee Desbiens. The raucous crowd (announced at 19,038) was divided evenly but cheered every hit and scoring chance.

After several shifts where the Sceptres pressed for a goal, Montreal had some extended zone time, and it was finished off by a spectacular goal from captain Marie-Philip Poulin. She passed to Erin Ambrose for a shot, and when the puck bounced back to her, Poulin (who had collided with Hayley Scamurra) fired a shot as she was falling that went over Campbell’s glove.

Just one minute later, the Sceptres caught a break when a power-play goal by Daryl Watts went through Desbiens. Watts is a player who needs to provide more offense, and her nifty drag release goal showed that her game might be rounding into shape.

The contest grew increasingly intense as Toronto continued to push forward, but couldn’t connect offensively. They outshot the Victoire 12-5 in the second period.

The ice was tilted again in the third. The Sceptres played with more desperation and finally got the result they needed at 6:53 when Jesse Compher and Emma Maltais skated in two-on-one. Compher, who has been a bright spot early on for the team, ripped a shot past Desbiens’ glove.

The Sceptres took the game to Montreal for stretches, but conceded a couple of costly turnovers that left Victoire players with Grade A chances. The third line of Grant-Mentis, Dalton, and Alexandra Labelle was particularly dangerous on this night.

Campbell stayed solid, and the game was tense until the final minute when Toronto pulled their netminder and Poulin put it out of reach with an empty-net goal, her second of the game. Vancouver was the setting for one of Poulin's signature games with Canada in the 2010 Olympics when she scored twice in the gold-medal winning game.

After the game, Sarah Nurse said, "I was very proud of how the team stuck to the game plan. We started executing and that’s the hardest thing about this league – it's hard to win. But I believe that by us continuing to stick together and stick with what we’re focusing on we’re going to have some success.”

The pushback by Toronto after falling behind 3-0 was a positive sign, and although the fight they showed might again be a moral victory, the results are not there, and the top of the standings (where Montreal now sits) looks more and more distant.