Minnesota Defeats Montreal 5-4 In Overtime In Wild Game One Of Playoff Series

(Photo: PWHL)

Minnesota defeated Montreal 5-4 in overtime in the first game of their semi-final series, a testy, penalty-filled contest. Jincy Roese launched a point shot at 4:30 of the fourth period to give the Frost the victory, overcoming the hat trick heroics of Montreal's Laura Stacey.

Almost all the storylines from the regular season series between the two teams were flipped, except for the inevitability of overtime.

Montreal had not lost at Place Bell in regulation all year, and only once (in overtime) all season and had won six straight games against Minnesota but the Victoire appeared uncomfortable to start the game.

Playoff Minnesota looks different and a player like Katy Knoll showed why as she opened the scoring for the Frost at 8:36 of the first with a gutsy effort to outskate Jessica DiGirolamo and get her stick on a pass from Klára Hymlárová, putting it high over Ann-Renée Desbiens' stick side.

Penalties and special teams set the tone early in the first period as four total calls were made.

Kendall Coyne Schofield made Montreal pay at 16:16 of the first by squeezing a puck through the pads of Desbiens to give the Frost a 2-0 lead and the home crowd was stunned into silence.

Neither team had scored a power play goal against the other, and Montreal had not allowed a power play goal at home since January.

In the second, the Frost almost made it 3-0 when Taylor Heise was stopped on a breakaway by Desbiens.

The Victoire pushed back and were rewarded when Shiann Darkangelo put a Kati Tabin rebound underneath Maddie Rooney to make it a one-goal game. It was only the sixth shot on goal for Montreal.

Scrums after whistles, goalies losing their helmets, and near-fights started to show how much these two teams dislike each other.

Montreal's Laura Stacey pushed through adversity and finally drew the Victoire even at 17:49 when she wrapped a puck around and through Rooney, bringing the crowd to life.

Just 46 seconds later, however, Grace Zumwinkle responded with a go-ahead goal that showed no one was going to back down. It was only the second time all season that Desbiens had allowed more than two goals in a game.