LAVAL, Que. — Maggie Flaherty saw what she called a “wide open lane to the slot,” and the Montreal Victoire defender also saw where the puck was located, which was right on the tape of her captain, Marie-Philip Poulin, just over 14 minutes into overtime of Game 2 of the Walter Cup Finals.
There were four Ottawa Charge players around Poulin, and Flaherty could tell that No. 29 had control of the puck, so she made her way toward the net, surrounded by wide open space, and Flaherty made herself known.
“I was really yellin’ for it,” a grinning Flaherty said, minutes after she one-timed a pass from Poulin into the back of Ottawa’s net, giving the Victoire a 2-0 stranglehold lead in the best-of-five Walter Cup Finals with a 2-1 win in this first-ever all-Canadian showdown for the PWHL championship.
“We heard Maggie calling for it what felt like five minutes, and none other than Pou putting it on the tape for a one-timer,” said Victoire head coach, Kori Cheverie, who added of her captain: “I don’t know how many players get the kind of coverage that she gets.”
Poulin’s recollection of the game-winning play was explained in the most Poulin of ways, with capital "H" humility. The 35-year-old pointed out that her goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens made a heck of a save just seconds earlier (Desbiens had, with a big five-hole game-extender), how Victoire winger Kaitlin Willoughby saw it was time for a line change and did “a very smart rim,” how Poulin’s linemate Abby Roque picked it up “put it into space I was coming in,” and that’s when she’s heard Maggie “screaming a little bit,” as Poulin said with a smile, from beneath the brim of a maroon team ballcap.
“I saw her in the corner of my eye and obviously any time you have Maggie in the slot, she knows where to put it,” Poulin added. “And honestly, we’re truly lucky to have her here in Montreal. And then she put the team on her back, and truly happy for her.”
If we talk about any player having anything on her back, though, it was Poulin, surrounded by blanket coverage. Charge head coach Carla MacLeod pointed out her team “probably had too many players in towards the puck,” but that their net-front D Emma Greco had been “tripped right beforehand,” with no call made.
Poulin was surrounded, and when asked how she found that lane to make the pass through traffic and with all that attention, her first answer was: “uuuuuh,” and then she immediately credited Flaherty for “finding the space,” though all Flaherty had, truly, was oodles of space, since most Charge players were focused on the Victoire captain.
Flaherty and Kati Tabin, the defender who got Montreal on the board and tied things up in the second period, helped to explain Poulin’s vision, from their perspective.
“She’s Pou,” Flaherty said, with a shrug and a laugh.
“She’s got eyes on the back of her head,” Tabin added.
“Eyes all around her head,” said Flaherty.
“She’s too humble,” Tabin added. “Pou just being Pou...”
Flaherty, the 25-year-old Minnesotan, registered just one shot on Saturday in just over 74 minutes of play, and was it ever big, labelled for the top corner, glove side. When it found the back of the net, she threw her hands in the air and jumped up and down on the ice while more than 9,000 fans lost it, right along with her teammates. In Game 1 it was Flaherty’s point shot that hit Laura Stacey’s stick and then Roque’s head and bounced in, but this game-winner was a direct hit.
And Flaherty is now a win away from being the first player to win three straight Walter Cups, since she won the last two seasons in her home state with the Frost.
“It’s a long series, but any time you have a chance to finish the series and win a Walter Cup, I mean, both teams are going to be fighting desperately for that, whether your season’s on the line, or you have a chance to raise that cup,” she said.
The Charge, meanwhile, suffered a second-straight loss in extra-time devastating fashion, after Montreal tied things up with just 2.1 seconds to go before winning in overtime in Game 1, two days earlier.
“We had a chance, 15 seconds before,” MacLeod said of an Alexa Vasko shot right in close, just before Flaherty ended the game. “The chances are going back and forth. You don’t get discouraged. You just keep going. My goodness, I tell you, I’m probably the proudest coach on the planet. We know where we’re going. We got our mission in front of us, and we’re going to continue it.”
It was the Charge who struck first again in Game 2, nearly half-way through the first period. It was a messy skirmish in front of the net that saw Poulin also playing goalie — No. 29 was standing right on the goal-line — when Sarah Wozniewicz somehow got the puck through the crowd and into the back of the net to make it 1-0, Ottawa.
“That’s a playoff type goal,” said Charge captain Brianne Jenner, acknowledging that’s how they have to beat Desbiens going forward.
But Montreal tied it up early in the second, right after Laura Stacey and Emily Clark got penalties for going after one another after the whistle — it was an aggressive game, with big hits thrown and absorbed by both teams — when Tabin struck with her first of the playoffs. The defender jumped on a loose puck right off the faceoff, then roofed it blocker-side on her backhand.
Tabin is the steady defender who logs big minutes and is tough to play against, and Saturday she lit the lamp and then launched herself into the glass while the crowd roared.
At the next TV timeout, Desbiens skated over to the bench and found Tabin, and as Victoire coach Kori Cheverie recalled, Desbiens said: “Tabes, that was awesome!”
The series now flips to Ottawa for Game 3 and 4, starting Monday night at the Canadian Tire Centre. For the Charge, who lost in four games in the final last year — all in overtime — it’s a chance to get back on track.
“I think in these moments, you have choices to make, and the easier one is to think that you’re down and out and have your head down and trip over your bottom lip,” Clark said. “But the reality is, it’s a best-of-five for a reason, and coach said after the game in the locker room, ‘If you were handed this opportunity at the start of the season you’d absolutely take it.’
“Sometimes it’s the harder choice to make, but I absolutely believe in this group, and if you think we’re going to give up, that’s not the case at all,” Clark added.
Meanwhile, Montreal is a win away, and it’s the toughest one to get.
To see the Victoire captain win the Walter Cup, Tabin said, “would be phenomenal, that’s obviously the goal.
“The things that Pou has done her entire life for hockey, you know, everyone of us looks up to her, so it would be incredible to win for the team, and win that for Pou.”
The captain was sipping her drink while Tabin talked about her, and she heard it all.
“I think maybe we should shut it down soon,” Poulin said, of all the praise. “Period.”
It would mean “a lot, for sure,” Poulin said, to win the PWHL title. Then she added: “We’re not done yet.”
