Montreal Victoire take 2-0 series lead, push Ottawa Charge to brink in PWHL Finals: Takeaways

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Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images Share articleLAVAL, Que. — The Montreal Victoire grabbed a commanding 2-0 series lead in the PWHL Walter Cup Finals against the Ottawa Charge on Saturday afternoon. Goals from defenders Kati Tabin and Maggie Flaherty — with the eventual game-winner — provided the Victoire with a 2-1 overtime win over the Charge in Game 2 of the best-of-five championship series. It was the sixth straight Walter Cup Finals game that required overtime, dating back to last postseason. And continued Montreal’s trend of heading to overtime in every single Game 2 they’ve played in the postseason. Flaherty ensured the game didn’t require multiple extra frames, though, scoring the game-winning goal at 14:12 in front of a raucous crowd of 9,232 at Place Bell. The victory puts Montreal just one win away from hoisting their first-ever Walter Cup — and Ottawa’s season on the brink. Game 3 is Monday night (6 p.m. ET) in Ottawa at the Canadian Tire Centre. Heading into the Finals, the Ottawa Charge knew beating Ann-Renée Desbiens would be a challenge. Desbiens set league records for wins (19), save percentage (.955) and goals-against average this season (1.11), and finished the semifinals against Minnesota, allowing just four goals on 122 shots (a .967 save percentage). But the Charge also found a winning recipe against U.S. Olympic gold medallist Aerin Frankel in the semifinals, beating her nine times on just 93 shots; That .903 save percentage is far worse than Frankel’s previous career-low, a .921 save percentage after the 2024-25 season. “The recipe doesn’t change,” said Ottawa captain Brianne Jenner. “It’s (about) how hard are you going to work to get in front of her, to get on those loose pucks around the net just to make her life as difficult as possible because we know she’s a great player.” In a first period with more dump-ins and play along the walls than zone time for any team, Ottawa created the exact kind of chaos they needed to best Desbiens. Rookie forward Peyton Hemp won a puck battle below the goal line and sent the puck right into the slot for Gabbie Hughes, whose shot snuck by Desbiens and hit the crossbar. As Desbiens turned to find the loose puck, Montreal captain Marie-Philip Poulin and defender Maggie Flaherty jumped into the blue paint as Ottawa forwards crashed the net. Eventually, rookie Sarah Wozniewicz took a final whack at the puck to beat Desbiens (and Poulin, who was standing in the crease). “I don’t think it’s going to be a pretty goal (against Desbiens),” Wozniewicz said on the broadcast at the end of the period. “We gotta go to the net and get the rebounds and I think that’s how we’ll score.” Wozniewicz, Ottawa’s third-round draft pick, was among the highest scoring rookies in the PWHL this season with seven goals and 13 points while mostly playing on the Charge’s top line with Jenner and Rebecca Leslie. She joined the Charge after four years at the University of Wisconsin, where she established herself as one of the best checking forwards in college hockey. Her game has translated well to the PWHL — and in the playoffs, as Wozniewicz is now riding a three-game point streak dating back to Ottawa’s semifinals clincher against Boston. Tabin’s game-tying goal — just 32 seconds into the second period — was huge, and the kind of depth scoring Montreal has lacked in previous playoff attempts. In three years with the Victoire, Tabin has established herself as a steady shutdown defender — and an absolute pain to play against. But on her first career playoff goal, Tabin flashed some impressive skill. On an offensive zone faceoff for Montreal, with both teams playing four-on-four, Poulin directed Tabin to slide down to the middle of the circle. The puck dropped to a bit of a broken play, but Tabin was able to jump on it in the middle of the ice and wound up one-on-one against Philips, where she pulled the puck to her backhand and elevated it blocker side for a stunning finish. Not the first time Poulin has dictated where she wants her teammates on an O-zone draw. In Game 5 of the semifinals against Minnesota, she had Catherine Dubois move a few steps to the right. She won the draw clean to an awaiting Dubois, who scored a massive opening goal for Montreal’s eventual win against the back-to-back champs. The rest of the second period returned a physical grind with just 10 combined shots on goal (6-4 for Ottawa). After 60 minutes, Ottawa and Montreal combined for just two goals — the second-lowest score at the end of regulation in this year’s playoffs — due to low shot volume and strong goalie play. Saturday’s game was a tight and physical contest with almost as many hits (22) as there were shots (26) in the first two periods alone. “When you’re playing for a championship, the physicality is going to be there,” said Ottawa coach Carla MacLeod on the PWHL’s broadcast ahead of the final frame. “Both these teams are passionate, both these teams are great — it’s playoff hockey.” By the end of the third, Desbiens (16) and Philips (23) had both faced their lowest shot totals of the playoffs and turned aside all but one goal each. Philips was a bit busier in the first period (11 shots against) and the third (eight shots against) and made two big saves on two different Laura Stacey breakaway attempts. Desbiens, meanwhile, never faced more than six shots in a single period. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms