Montreal Strikes First To Take Early Series Lead Over Ottawa In Walter Cup Finals

The PWHL's first all-Canadian Walter Cup Finals between the Ottawa Charge and Montreal Victoire was a matchup many expected to be close, so to see Game One head to overtime was a surprise to very few. Ann-Renée Desbiens was strong as usual in goal and helped to fend off a strong Ottawa forecheck. Rebecca Leslie continued her strong playoffs as she provided all the offence for the Charge, and Nicole Gosling scored in the dying seconds of the third to tie the game.

But when the dust settled, it was Montreal who took the opener, as Abby Roque scored in overtime for her second goal of the game. Credit: The PWHL "There are little things that we can adjust to be better, but we are happy with our game," said Jocelyne Larocque. "You must have a short memory.

I'm just as confident as I was before Game One that we can win the Walter Cup. " From Ottawa's perspective, there was actually a lot to like about how they played, as the team appeared to have found the gear that helped drive so much success to close out the regular season. They finished regulation with the edge in shots on goal for the first time in these playoffs, played an aggressive forecheck, especially as the game wore on, and had another perfect penalty kill game.

The issue was, unsurprisingly, that the Charge couldn't contain Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey, who finished with a combined three points in the game. Shutting down the duo during last year's semifinals was a major reason the Charge were able to take that matchup, and they will need to channel that effort to do the same in this series if a Walter Cup is in their future. Credit: The PWHL And if one so chooses to nitpick just a little further, it would be to say that Ottawa struggled to close out a period.