By Canadian Press

Desbiens comes up big as Victoire edge Frost 2-1 in a shootout

Mar 4, 2025 | 7:01 PM

MONTREAL — Marie-Philip Poulin scored the only goal of the shootout as the Montreal Victoire extended their lead atop the Professional Women’s Hockey League with a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Frost on Tuesday night at Place Bell.

With the win, Montreal’s lead in first place is now nine points over the second-place Toronto Sceptres with 10 games remaining.

Poulin’s winner was scored when she fired a snapshot past Maddie Rooney in front of a crowd of 8,923. Ann-Renée Desbiens stopped all five shootout attempts, sealing the win with a stop on Minnesota defender Claire Thompson.

Desbiens made a season-high 39 saves for the Victoire, including three in overtime.

Laura Stacey opened the scoring for Montreal with her eighth goal of the season 17 seconds into the second period. Jennifer Gardiner launched a long cross-ice pass from her own zone that Stacey won the race to, getting behind the Minnesota defence. She put a backhand past Rooney.

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It was the fourth straight game Stacey scored with a goal, setting a new team record.

Minnesota tied the game with 3:42 left in the second period on the power play when Taylor Heise fired a shot from the top of the slot past Desbiens. It was the third Minnesota power play of the period, after Montreal took three penalties in a span of 5:31. It was Heise’s fifth goal of the season.

TAKEAWAYS

Frost: Minnesota came out of their mandated week off with a solid performance against the league’s top team.

Victoire: Desbiens continued her strong play and is now on a stretch of 13 straight games allowing two goals or less.

KEY MOMENT

Desbiens made 11 third-period saves, including two in the final minute to send the game to overtime.

KEY STAT

Montreal defender Dominika Lásková played her first game in 402 days after suffering a lower-body injury that ended her season on Jan. 27, 2024.

UP NEXT

Frost: Host the Ottawa Charge on Friday in Raleigh, N.C.

Victoire: Visit the Toronto Sceptres on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 4, 2025.

Jared Book, The Canadian Press