Marie Phillipe Poulin, Melodie Daoust lead Montreal past Boston

It was a day to remember for Melodie Daoust who made her PWHL debut with Montreal scoring the game-winning goal on Saturday in Verdun.

On Saturday afternoon in front of a packed crowd of 3232 Montreal won their second consecutive home game in Verdun beating Boston 3-1 thanks to Marie Phillipe Poulin, and Melodie Daoust who played her first game with the team after signing a 10-day contract earlier in the day while Elaine Chuli made 30 saves in the win to remain perfect on the season at 5-0.

“Un autre belle victoire ce soir,” Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie said in her opening statement which has become a tradition translating to another beautiful win tonight.”

Before the game, the team had announced that Claire Dalton would be out due to preventative measures while Kennedy Marchment, who had missed the last three games, was put on LTIR or Long Term Injured Reserve, which means she will miss the next 21 days before being eligible to return.

The team also announced that Melodie Daoust who had been on the reserve team at her request due to shared custody of her son was signed to a 10-day contract while Alexandra Poznikoff was signed to a standard player agreement for the rest of the season. Daoust as previously reported was slotted on the first line with Poulin and Laura Stacey while Poznikoff was the 13th forward.

“She’s for sure a special player,” Cheverie said when asked about Daoust.” She can be inserted into a lineup and make an immediate impact right away so it seemed like a good fit to go with her with Pou and Stace and she has a knack for the net.”

It didn’t look to see her make an impact as four minutes into the game Daoust took a shot on net that went off a Boston player and right to Poulin who quickly fired a shot in close beating Aerin Frankel to open the scoring.

“There was no pressure on her to perform and to put her on a line with Pou where there is some familiarity and put her in a situation to succeed and we thought it was a good decision responsibly to start her there.”

Five minutes into the second period Daoust doubled Montreal’s lead as she drove to the net and got a slick pass cross ice from Poulin and made no mistake putting the puck into the back of the net to the delight of the crowd who erupted at the sight of her scoring.

” It was incredible,” Daoust said in French in her post-game press conference. “To jump on the ice and be in that atmosphere and I honestly got chills after I scored and the fans cheering for me and it made me feel special and it’s fun to play in Montreal.”

With five minutes left in the second period Boston reduced Montreal’s lead to one as Alina Muller forced a turnover and ended up on a 2-on-1 with Hilary Knight who was able to finish the play by beating Chuli with a quick shot.

“Right now our team feels comfortable with whoever we have in net,” Cheverie said when asked about the goaltending situation. “We have two great goaltenders that will help us in the long run and currently helping us now and we will continue to go game by game.”

Montreal regained its two-goal lead three minutes into the final frame as Erin Ambrose fired a shot from the point that seemed to fool Frankel and beat her five-hole.

“Every week we try to build on what we have been working on but there is always a new piece that we try to add so in some areas I thought we were better and in some areas, I didn’t think we were better and it’s tough to get three points especially when we can keep a team like Boston to one goal so I am happy with that.”

After the game, Cheverie was asked if she was pleased with how things were going on the defensive side and she feels her defenseman has improved.

“I think our D-corp has come a long way and it needed to if we wanted to compete for every game, especially against the offense of other teams in this league and we have been focusing on the defensive aspect and I am really proud of the group and they are doing what they need to do and they have been growing as a unit and we are really happy with them.”

I asked Elaine Chuli about her performance today and how she feels about being the last goaltender in the league to have an undefeated record and she seemed to brush it off.

“Ya it feels nice,” she told me. “Most importantly if we get the win I’m happy.”

Montreal has a busy week ahead next week as they will travel to face New York on Wednesday before traveling to Toronto to play them on Friday night before hosting Ottawa in Laval next Sunday.

–

Featured Image ©️ Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL)