Victoire Roll Into First

The Montreal Victoire were back in Ottawa last night, with a little change in scenery as the match headed to the Canadian Tire Centre for the first time. 

The Victoire entered the match off the heels of clinching their third-straight playoff berth while the Charge entered off a loss from their trip to Calgary. The Charge started off hot, but a called back goal seemed to have slowed their offensive momentum. As frustrations continued the Charge and Victoire headed to the penalty box. 

In the second period, the teams continued to battle with Ottawa continuing to take the edge on shots. Coming off the tails of a penalty-kill the Victoire sent it back down to the other end as Kaitlin Willoughby found her first PWHL goal on the rush, with one to remember later becoming the game-winning goal. 

Not long after the Charge took a delay of game penalty sending the Victoire to the power-play. After a smart turn around pass from Nicole Gosling, Laura Stacey sent it across for Abby Roque who found the insurance goal. 

Trying to battle it out from behind the Charge found some more penalties sending them on the kill, but thanks to Phillips and the defence the Victoire wouldn’t capitalize. But with nothing getting through Sandra Abstreiter the Charge pulled Phillips with just over two and a half minutes left hoping to spark some of their earlier offense and forge a comeback. However, it would be Kaitlin Willoughby with her second of the night and career on the empty net to lock in the Victoire win. 

Willoughby has been back and forth between Toronto and Montreal in her PWHL career, this season she’s grown into her own within Montreal's systems having her best year to date with 5 points on the season, and career high of 5 blocks. As her offence continues to grow she’s going to be one to watch as the Victoire make their third-straight playoff run. Willoughby has continued to add depth to the Victoires offensive end. 

Despite the shutout there were lots of positives for the Charge as they continued to push and create chances, in front of their biggest home crowd in franchise history, with over 17,000 fans in attendance as the league continues to search for venues that would keep the team in Ottawa. Based on the TV interview with the Charge GM there have been continued talks between Amy Sheer, Jayna Hefford, and the Ottawa Senators, so a possible move to Kanata may be in the future. 

Both teams now await the Seattle Torrent as they visit this week, starting in Montreal on Tuesday before heading to Ottawa Wednesday. Will the Victoire continue pushing through and hold on to the top seed? And will the Charge bounce back to get into a playoff position? Tune in this week to find out. 

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