The first experience of Kori Cheverie, Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey, Ann-Renée Desbiens and Erin Ambrose in playoff games of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (LPHF) did not give them the results they were hoping for, Thursday night. But it is certainly not for lack of effort and will.
Susanna Tapani found the back of the net at 14:25 of the first overtime period and the Boston team snatched a 2-1 victory over the Montreal club in the first game of the three-of-five LPHF semi-final series, played in front of 9,135 spectators, Thursday evening, at Place Bell.
Tapani pounced on a loose puck that had fallen behind Desbiens following a shot by Megan Keller and managed to push it into the back of the net.
Less than two minutes earlier, Boston had held off a penalty on Keller.
“Opportunities like that, especially in overtime, you have to take advantage of them, and I think we didn’t succeed at that time,” Poulin admitted.
“Yes, it’s a turning point in a sense, but when we got back to five-on-five, we were in the game. It’s part of the game and it’s up to us to get back up on Saturday.”
Lexie Adzija scored Boston’s other goal at 1:48 of the third period.
Tapani’s goal capped a comeback by the visitors and, above all, a high-quality performance by goalie Aerin Frankel, who faced 54 shots, including 18 in the third period and 11 more in overtime.
Frankel only lost to Kristin O’Neill in the second period.
“Montreal did a good job of putting pucks on net and it definitely wears you out as the game goes on. The important thing is to stay focused,” Frankel described modestly.
Desbiens had a much less busy night than Frankel, facing only 26 shots.
“We can’t dwell on it too long. We know it’s going to be a long series,” Cheverie said when asked to describe her emotions after the heartbreaking defeat.
“We had chances to score goals. Obviously, we needed to score more. It’s disappointing for us, but as a coach, I’m happy with the effort, except for the result. I know we need results, but if I look at the game as a whole, I’m happy with what our group did. And I think it gives us momentum going forward.”
The second game of this three-of-five series will be presented Saturday night at Place Bell. A duel that the Montreal team absolutely must win to avoid finding itself facing a 0-2 deficit during the third matchup, next Tuesday at Boston’s home.
“It’s a series, it’s long, it’s going to be up to us to do things well tomorrow, so that we’re ready for Saturday,” declared Poulin.
“It’s a defeat that hurts, you always want to win the first part of the series, but that’s what’s fun. We can come back. It’s not over. We’re going to recover, we’re going to take time for that and we’re going to come back strong on Saturday,” added the captain of the Montreal team.
Montreal Supremacy
As we know, the Montreal team — like the five others in the league — played without a name during this first season of the LPHF. In the first period, Thursday night, the Montreal team would have deserved to be nicknamed the Tornadoes, so much did it draw its rivals into an irresistible whirlwind.
From the first moments of the first twenty and until the last seconds of the period, Kori Cheverie’s players multiplied the dangerous incursions into the Boston zone and the threatening shots.
Twelve of those shots hit the target, but missed the back of the net, but several others missed the target.
Meanwhile, Desbiens only had to block two completely harmless shots from Hilary Knight.
“When you come to Montreal, you know you have to weather the storm. The energy in the building was fantastic. It was loud from the pre-game warm-up to the end. But we knew that,” Boston head coach Courtney Kessel said.
“Did it go on a little longer than we wanted? That’s for sure. But you have to do what you have to do in the playoffs because anything can happen. Weathering that storm and going into the locker room with the score 0-0 after one period was crucial.”
The Montrealers did not have to wait too long in the second period, however, before opening the scoring.
After just 67 seconds of play, during a power play that had started at the end of the first period, O’Neill scored the first goal in the history of the Montreal team in playoff games.
O’Neill capitalized on the rebound of a hard one-timer from Laura Stacey, which Frankel had blocked with her right shoulder but was unable to control. The puck fell behind Frankel and O’Neill was able to push it into the net despite being jostled by defender Emily Brown.
It was the start of another period dominated by the Montreal team. But not as clearly as during the first 20 minutes of the game, while Boston began to show its teeth in the second half of the engagement, particularly.
That burst of energy, combined with all the missed chances Montreal had in the first 40 minutes, allowed Boston to get back into the game when Adzija tipped in a Sophie Shirley shot at 1:48.
