Red-hot Victoire take on inconsistent Sceptres on TSN
Published
One day after beating the Ottawa Charge on the back of captain Marie-Philip Poulin’s hat trick, the Montreal Victoire look for a fourth-straight win tonight as they host the Toronto Sceptres.
Watch the Victoire take on the Sceptres LIVE at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on TSN4 and streaming on TSN.ca and the TSN App.
With her three goals last night, Poulin took over the PWHL lead with eight, while Jennifer Gardiner scored once with two assists. Ann-Renée Desbiens turned aside 31 shots to pick up her league-leading seventh win of the season.
The Sceptres are coming off a 4-3 shootout loss to the Minnesota Frost on Tuesday.
Defender Renata Fast led the way with a goal and two assists but got bested in the shootout as Frost defender Claire Thompson beat Toronto’s Raygan Kirk to seal the victory.
The Victoire and the Sceptres have had polar opposite seasons thus far. Montreal is atop the PWHL standings with a 9-2-1 record while Toronto is last at 4-6-3 and have struggled without star forward Natalie Spooner who continues to recover from knee surgery she had last spring.
On special teams, Montreal’s power play has struggled this season, as they are fifth at just 20 per cent while Toronto is second at 24.3 per cent. The Victoire have the advantage on the penalty kill over Toronto, operating at 80 per cent while the Sceptres are at 71.1 per cent.
With Kirk starting on Tuesday, the Sceptres could turn back to Kristen Campbell in net.
After winning PWHL Goaltender of the Year Award last year, the 27-year-old has struggled this season. In eight appearances, she is 2-5-1 with an .887 save percentage and 2.88 goals-against average.
For Montreal, backup goaltender Elaine Chuli could make her fourth start of the season after Desbiens started last night. While her numbers haven’t been as strong this season –she allowed four goals against the Frost in her last outing on Jan. 12 – Chuli was lights out for Montreal last year behind Desbiens and is 2-1 this season.
After failing to beat the Sceptres in five meetings last season, the Victoire has taken both games so far in 2024-25.
In their first meeting on Dec. 21, Montreal tied the game in the third period before Laura Stacey scored just 15 seconds into overtime for the 4-3 win.
The most recent meeting on Jan. 8 had Poulin score twice with Mikayla Grant-Mentis getting a goal and an assist as the Victoire skated away with the 4-2 win.