Montreal was able to leapfrog Minnesota into first place in the PWHL standings after beating them 2-1 on the road at the Excel Energy Center in St, Paul.
Montreal was able to bounce back after a tough loss to Toronto last Saturday in Verdun and again was outshot in the process 41-22 by the home team.
” I am really happy with our goaltending”, Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie told the media post-game. ” We got a lot of shots from the outside and I am ok with that but I was really happy with the response of our group tonight.”
It didn’t take long for the visitors to open the scoring as less than five minutes into the game Laura Stacey was able to get a shot off which deflected off a Minnesota player and past their goaltender Nicole Hensley who got the start tonight in goal.
” Every night feels like a game 7 and it’s hard to get three points in this league and down to the wire and we worked on a lot this week and I am happy with the way we shut them down and that was the goal.”
Minnesota equalized midway through the second period as Michela Cava a former teammate of Elaine Chuli who made 40 saves tonight in the win was able to beat her for her first PWHL goal getting a loose rebound off a shot from Liz Scheepers and putting it past the former Toronto Six goaltender.
With six minutes left in regulation, Tereza Vanisova was able to score the game-winning goal and also her first in PWHL as well as she got a quick feed from Maureen Murphy and was able to beat Hensley with a wrist shot from in close.
” I think it was a long time coming for her and she has been all around the net and she has had some really good looks and we knew as a staff something was going to go in soon because she is playing the game the way we are asking her to play and she continues to elevate her style and she is a very skilled player.”
I was able to ask Vanisova what she saw on the play and she was able to dissect exactly what happened and she was thrilled to finally have one go in.
” It was a great forecheck from Murph”, She told me. ” She tried to put it on the net and it bounced back to me from the goalie and I put the puck into an empty net so it was a pretty easy goal for me but a very important one.”
I asked Chuli how she felt after having a busy night, making a lot of saves and she seemed pretty happy with her performance.
” I felt pretty good”, Chuli said. ” There were a couple of good bounces which always helps but I felt good tonight.”
Chuli who only played her second game of the season tonight was asked if it is important when your not playing a lot to get some shots in early.
“It’s something that is new for me and I am trying to embrace it and it’s taking what we do in practice and bringing it into a game but it does help getting some shots early.”
–
Featured Image ©️ Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL)
[adrotate group=”1″]
Related Articles
Categories
Recent Posts
[adrotate group=”2″]
