PWHL playoffs: Montreal pulls ahead of Minnesota with 2-1 win in Game 3

Two goals in under a minute were enough for the Montreal Victoire to beat the Minnesota Frost 2-1 in game three of the PWHL first-round series.

Montreal now leads the series two games to one and has a chance to close out the series on Friday in Minnesota.

The Frost got on the board first when Sidney Morin scored her second of the playoffs early at 3:22 in the first.

The Victoire defence, anchored by Canada’s No. 1 netminder Ann-Renée Desbiens, shut up shop, however, for the rest of the game.

The offence, meanwhile, needed just 30 seconds of deadly effectiveness to pull the visiting team ahead in the second.

Maggie Flaherty scored for the Victoire at 4:36 in the second, followed by Hayley Scamurra (who assisted Flaherty’s goal) at the five-minute mark.

The rest of the game was all Frost.

Montreal had exactly one shot on net in the third period to Minnesota’s 11, but the potent Frost snipers were not able to solve Desbiens.

The league’s leading scorer, Kelly Pannek, had a chance right at the buzzer, but Desbiens got a pad down and stoned the Plymouth, Minnesota native.

In the end, the Frost outshot the Victoire 28-19.

The winner of game three in any PWHL series that has been tied 1-1 has gone on to win the series in the two years of the league’s existence.