Montreal shut out again by Toronto in feisty affair

Montreal once again was shut out by their arch-rivals Toronto on Friday night at the Mattamy Atheltic Centre in downtown Toronto.

The visitors had their three-game winning streak snapped while the home team won their ninth straight and has shown massive improvement from the product they were showing at the beginning of the season.

” They capitalized on some of their chances”, Kori Cheverie told me post-game. ” At the end of the day that is the moral of the story.”.

It started early for Toronto as less than three minutes into the contest Natalie Spooner attempted a wrap-around and Hannah Miller was there to put the loose rebound into the back of the net.

” I liked our game and it was more of a 1-0 game that turned into a 3-0 game.”

Rebecca Leslie doubled Toronto’s lead early in the third period less than five minutes into the final frame when she was able to tip a shot from Olivia Knowles that went top corner.

” We have three games in five days so we are trying to take what we can from this game and be prepared for our game on Sunday and we have to turn the page and be ready to play as soon as possible.”

With 1:06 remaining in regulation Emma Maltais sealed the win with an empty net goal to the delight of the sellout crowd of over 2500 people who packed the Mattamy Atheltic Centre.

” It’s hard to finish the game and you need to take the time to sit down and rewatch it and it’s not as bad as you think.”

Another cool storyline was the return of Elaine Chuli who played an amazing game despite the result and she said it was amazing to be back in Toronto after winning a championship with The Six last year.

” Ya, it felt good”, Chuli said. “I tried to forget those memories from last year but it was amazing.”

I asked Chuli how she felt after the game suffering her first defeat of the season after winning four in a row and being the last goaltender to remain perfect.

” We battled hard”, she answered. ” They are a good team and we will need to review the tape and we will get them next time.”

Laura Stacey was also asked about the result and to give her perspective on the game and the loss tonight to a team that has beaten them twice without conceding a goal.

” It’s two physical teams”, Stacey said. ” It was a back-and-forth game and it was two good teams going at it and that’s what you get.”

I asked Stacey if she felt something was missing from her team and she said the team did their best and they need to move forward despite the result.

” We had so many opportunities tonight”, Stacey told me. ” Kristen (Campbell) played well in net and we need to find a way and we are going to look back on it but we will focus on the positives and we did create a lot of opportunities and the next step is to make sure we bury them.”

Poulin had nothing but praise for Toronto saying they have become an unbelievable team and the proof is the amazing run they are currently on.

” They have a great team”, Poulin told me. ” They are very deep and they have an amazing goaltender and she’s playing very well and that’s part of it, it was physical and it was hard and we need to get back quickly because we have a game on Sunday.

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