Montreal Victoire take Game 1 in Walter Cup finals with 3-2 OT win over Ottawa Charge

Montreal Victoire Abby Roque scored the overtime winner to take a 1-0 series lead against the Ottawa Charge in the Walter Cup PWHL finals.

Abby Roque was the hero two and a half minutes into overtime, as the Montreal Victoire beat the Ottawa Charge to take a 1-0 series lead in the Walter Cup PWHL finals.

The Victoire were trailing with four seconds to go in the game, but tied it with two seconds to spare to force overtime.

Knife-edge, goalie duel

As expected, Ottawa’s Gwyneth Phillips and Ann-Renée Desbiens from Montreal were solid between the pipes for their respective teams.

The American and Canadian shot stoppers kept the scoring stat board cleaned for over a period and a half before Charge Rebecca Leslie finally solved Desbiens at 16:56 of the second period to take a 1-0 lead for the visitors in Laval.

Roque answered a period later to tie the game at 12:12 of the third, and the game returned to a knife-edge contest.

When Leslie scored again at 15:56, the tension in the Place Bell crowd rose again until the final seconds of the game.

The Place Bell crowd had further reason for nerves late in the third period when Victoire winger Laura Stacey collided with Charge Gabbie Hughes and was hit into the boards, injuring her leg. Her linemate, Marie-Philip Poulin, helped her off the ice, and she did not return for the period.

It wasn’t the last time Poulin would help a teammate.

With just three seconds remaining, “Captain Clutch” Marie-Philip Poulin threw a pass to Maureen Murphy, who found Nicole Gosling to score her first of the playoffs and send the game to overtime.

Ottawa had not lost an overtime game all season.

...before Thursday.

Stacey, back on the ice and digging a puck out from behind Philips’ net, found a spot to the Charge goalie’s left and deftly deflected a shot from Maggie Flaherty to Roque, who nodded the puck in off her helmet to end the game.

It was Roque’s second goal, Stacey’s second assist and Montreal’s first win of the finals.

Game 2 is Saturday afternoon in Laval.