Ann-Renée Desbiens made 20 saves, including 11 in the third period, as the Montréal Victoire defeated the Toronto Sceptres 3-1 in Professional Women's Hockey League action Sunday afternoon at Place Bell.
Kati Tabin, Hayley Scamurra, and Laura Stacey scored for the Victoire (2-0-0-1), who won their second straight game.
Raygan Kirk made 27 saves for Toronto (2-0-0-2). Emma Gentry scored her first career PWHL goal in the loss.
Tabin opened the scoring at 8:38 of the first period when her shot from the point made it through traffic and Raygan Kirk for her first goal of the season.
Montreal appeared to double its lead with under eight minutes remaining in the first period when Marie-Philip Poulin redirected a pass into the net, but it was ruled to be a kick and was disallowed after a review.
The Victoire had another chance to open up their lead with 1:35 of a five-on-three power play early in the second period, but were unable to capitalize.
The Victoire eventually went up 2-0 early in the second period when Scamurra’s centring pass hit Toronto defender Kali Flanagan and went past Kirk. It was Scamurra’s first goal of the season.
Scamurra signed with Montreal in the off-season and was playing against Toronto for the first time since playing 19 games with them last season.
Toronto got on the board 1:36 into the third period when Gentry fired a shot over Desbiens’ shoulder. Stacey responded a few minutes later to restore Montreal’s two-goal lead.
Sceptres head coach Troy Ryan said that Montreal looked more physical than they had in the past, something his players picked up on.
“I just don’t know I we came out to match their physicality and their compete level,” said Toronto defender Renata Fast.
Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie said it was "mission accomplished today."
"Every game is going to present different things, but we know that Toronto plays that style as well," Cheverie said. "Just really happy with the physicality piece. A big push in our off-season was to get more physical players."
Forward Laura Stacey, who scored one of Montreal's goals, said if the other team is talking about how tough the Victoire are to play, then they're doing something right.
“That’s a goal of ours, for teams to come in here and feel the physicality, and feel that we’re a tough team to play against,” Stacey said. “For them to feel it today, for them to say that, that’s huge for us. That’s something we’re really working towards.”
Captain Blayre Turnbull and Emma Maltais, key members of Toronto's leadership group, both took big hits.
“Those tend to have some emotional side effects to it,” Ryan said. “In those moments, you have a decision as a player of which way you’re going to respond to it. Are you going to respond with physicality, or are you going to go more into your shell?
"I think, to some extent, we went more into a shell as opposed to, 'OK, we're in a game here, it's going to be physical, maybe we have to dictate a little more than just being a receiver.’”
Fast said the Victoire put Toronto on its heels early in the game.
“This league is obviously allowing a lot of physicality, and we want that,” Stacey said. “It’s extremely important for our team, and you can see when we are physical, when we are taking the body the right way, we’re tough to play against.”
A LONG LAYOFF, BEFORE ANOTHER LAYOFF
One of the quirks of the PWHL’s schedule early on is noticeable with the Victoire. Montreal went 11 days between their last game on November 25, and their game on Sunday, while all seven other teams played games. Now, they have another break — this one league-wide for international play — before returning to action in 10 days.
It didn’t seem to affect them too much on Sunday, as they came out strong, outshooting Toronto 12-3 in the first period and taking a 1-0 lead.
“There were a few things that we focused on in the break, so I was really happy and our coaching staff were happy to see some of those come to life so quickly,” Cheverie said.
Stacey said she is proud of the team's response to the latest layoff.
"It’s not easy with our schedule right now, and we all know that. We put in a lot of work the last 10 days. We knew we had to come out, keep it simple, play hard and that’s exactly what we did."
TAKEAWAYS
Sceptres: Toronto allowed a shorthanded goal after killing eight straight penalties to start the season
Victoire: Despite not playing since Nov. 25, Montreal came out and opened a 12-3 shot advantage in the first period, and kept that momentum going in the win.
KEY MOMENT
Toronto had a full two minutes at five-on-three early in the third because of three back-to-back penalties taken by the Victoire. They were unable to score, and Desbiens made five saves, including a big stop on Ella Shelton.
KEY STAT
This is the first of three games between Montreal and Toronto, in three different arenas. The two teams will meet on Dec. 17 in Halifax as part of the PWHL’s Takeover Tour and again on Dec. 27 at the Bell Centre.
UP NEXT
Victoire: Face the Sceptres on Wednesday, Dec. 17 in Halifax
Sceptres: Face the Victoire on Wednesday, Dec. 17 in Halifax
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