Ann-Renée Desbiens made 21 saves, including 11 in the third period, as the Montreal Victoire defeated the Toronto Sceptres 3-1 in Professional Women’s Hockey League action Sunday afternoon at Place Bell in Laval, Que.
Kati Tabin, Hayley Scamurra and Laura Stacey scored for the Victoire (2-0-0-1), who won their second straight game.
Raygan Kirk made 27 saves for Toronto (2-0-0-2). Emma Gentry scored her first career PWHL goal in the loss.
Montreal Victoire defeat Toronto Sceptres at Place Bell
Tabin opened the scoring at 8:38 of the first period when her shot from the point made it through traffic and Kirk for her first goal of the season.
Montreal appeared to double its lead with under eight minutes remaining in the first period when Marie-Philip Poulin redirected a pass into the net, but it was ruled to be a kick and was disallowed after a review.
Despite not playing since Nov. 25, Montreal came out and opened a 12-3 shot advantage in the first period. They kept that momentum going in the second period with 1:35 of a five-on-three power play early in the period, though Montreal was unable to capitalize.
The Victoire eventually went up 2-0 early in the second period when Scamurra’s centring pass hit Toronto defender Kali Flanagan and went past Kirk. It was Scamurra’s first goal of the season.
Scamurra signed with Montreal in the off-season and was playing against Toronto for the first time since playing 19 games with them last season.
Toronto got on the board 1:36 into the third period when Gentry fired a shot over Desbiens’ shoulder. Stacey responded a few minutes later to restore Montreal’s two-goal lead.
Toronto had a full two minutes at five-on-three early in the third because of three back-to-back penalties taken by the Victoire. They were unable to score and Desbiens made five saves, including a big stop on Ella Shelton.
This is the first of three games between Montreal and Toronto — all in different arenas. The two teams will meet on Dec. 17 in Halifax as part of the PWHL’s Takeover Tour and again on Dec. 27 at the Bell Centre.
