After almost seven periods and six hours of hockey, Montreal Victoire forward Catherine Dubois doesn’t even remember her winning goal.
Dubois took a pass from Kristin O’Neill at the left circle and fired a wrist shot past Ottawa goaltender Gwyneth Philips to give the Montreal Victoire a 3-2 win in Game 2 of their Professional Women’s Hockey League semifinal on Sunday in front of 7,144 fans at Place Bell.
The goal came at 15:33 of the fourth overtime period. It ended the longest professional women’s hockey game in North America passing the Canadian Women’s Hockey League semifinal on March 18, 2018. The previous longest Professional Women’s Hockey League game was played exactly a year ago between Montreal and Boston.
“I blacked out,” Dubois said. “I don’t really remember what happened, I just remember the girls coming towards me. We dealt with the opposite last year and it hurt so I’m really happy we came away with the win.”
The win ties the best-of-five PWHL series at 1-1, and was the first playoff win for the Victoire in the team’s history.
WATCH | Dubois scores in 4th OT, Victoire even series with Charge:
Victoire edge Charge with Dubois’ winner in 4th OT to even series
“With a win it does give us a little bit of momentum,” said Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie. “I think Ottawa came into playoffs believing in their group, and belief is a powerful tool. I think that tonight, we took a little bit of that belief in our room.”
The long game led to unconventional practices to get through it. Ottawa taped packets of mustard to the bench so players could take them to help prevent cramping. Both teams said pickles and pickle juice were consumed during some of the six intermissions to help with cramping.
The Victoire team nutritionist ran around getting the team peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and smoothies as the game extended well beyond what they had prepared for. After the game, players noted they had not eaten since 10 a.m.
O’Neill had a goal to go with her game-winning assist, and Laura Stacey also scored for Montreal. Defender Anna Wilgren had two assists. Ann-Renee Desbiens made 63 saves.
“If your team keeps doing the right things, like we did today, especially in overtime, eventually we’re going to get one,” said Desbiens. “I had to make sure that I made the saves so that the girls could have what they worked so hard for all game long.”
Brianne Jenner had the tying goal and an assist. Aneta Tejralova also scored for the Charge. Gwyneth Philips made 53 saves.
Both teams had five-on-three power plays in the first overtime period, but were unable to capitalize.
Montreal had 1:34 of five-on-three time, while Ottawa had 24 seconds.
The Victoire opened the scoring 2:25 into the game when O’Neill scored her first of the post-season.
The pass banked off the side boards and ended up perfectly placed for O’Neill to beat Ottawa’s defence to the puck. She then put the backhand past Philips. It was Montreal’s first shot of the game, to go with their last shot of the game that secured the victory.
Montreal doubled their lead 8:35 into the second period when Stacey entered the zone off of a nice pass from Anna Wilgren and fired a snap shot over the pad of Philips.
Ottawa almost cut the lead less than a minute later. A scramble in front saw the puck cross the goal line, but the call after an official review was that there was goaltender interference. The Charge challenged the call, but it was confirmed giving Montreal a power play. Rebecca Leslie was credited with the shot that crossed the line.
The Charge had the best chances during the penalty. Katerina Mrazova hit the post on a rush, and Emily Clark had a shot from the slot saved by Desbiens. It also generated some momentum for Ottawa. Ten of their 11 shots in the second period came after Stacey’s goal.
Jenner’s tying goal came when Tereza Vanisova had the puck at the goal line to the left of Desbiens, and fired a cross-ice pass. The puck hit off of Ottawa forward Clark before Jenner fired the one-timer into the open side of the net.
“We have such a belief in each other, and we could tell that Gwen felt a little bit down, and I think we really wanted to play for her and not have that be what the result was,” said Ottawa defender Jocelyne Larocque.
“She even thanked us after the game to get us back to being tied,” Larocque said. “It’s so great to be a part of and I love this team.”
The series now shifts to Ottawa for Game 3 on Tuesday night at TD Place.
“We know we have an opponent that is a great team, a great opponent,” said Ottawa head coach Carla MacLeod. “No stone will be left unturned from either side, but we’ll be really, really excited to get back to Ottawa and go play in front of our fans and see what that brings for us.”
