LAVAL, QC – Catherine Dubois was the quadruple-overtime hero for the Montréal Victoire, firing the game-winning goal to beat the Ottawa Charge 3–2 and end the longest game in PWHL history at Place Bell on Sunday. Her goal at 135:33 secured the Victoire’s first-ever playoff win, evening the semifinal series against the Charge at one game apiece. In a goaltending duel, Ann-Renée Desbiens earned her first career playoff victory, making 63 saves on 65 shots for Montréal, while Charge rookie Gwyneth Philips turned aside a career-high 53 of 56 shots.
In a game that stretched over five hours, the Victoire wasted no time opening the scoring. Kristin O’Neill gave her team its first lead of the series within three minutes of the opening faceoff. Laura Stacey then doubled Montréal’s advantage midway through the second period, giving the Victoire a two-goal lead heading into the final frame. After a back-and-forth third period as the Charge pushed to stay in the game, Aneta Tejralová found the back of the net with less than five minutes remaining to pull Ottawa within one. Charge captain Brianne Jenner then buried the equalizer with 42 seconds left in regulation to send the game into extra time.
The game needed an additional 75 minutes of overtime play spanning across four periods to reach its conclusion. Both teams had significant chances to end it earlier, including unsuccessful 5-on-3 power plays for each side during the marathon overtime sessions. The Victoire and the Charge traded sustained pressure throughout the extra frames, with Montréal recording 33 shots and Ottawa firing 32 shots in the overtime periods alone. It wasn’t until Dubois’ winner deep into the fourth overtime that the deadlock was finally broken.
Game Three of the best-of-five PWHL Playoffs, presented by SharkNinja, is set to take place on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET at TD Place in Ottawa.
QUOTES
Victoire Head Coach Kori Cheverie following the win: “I think that the group showed the grit that was needed to win a playoff game–– the amount of blocked shots, the amount of puck tracking. I’d like to think that the momentum is in our corner, but, we’ll have to wait and see and be able to put another game together for 60-plus minutes.”
Montréal forward Catherine Dubois on her game-winning goal: “To be quite honest, I think I passed out. I don’t remember anything except [my teammates] coming to me and celebrating. So, I’m just very happy that that we won this game. It was a team win. We all played together. So, I’m just happy.”
Ottawa Head Coach Carla MacLeod on the PWHL’s longest game: “How fun is that? Welcome to playoff hockey in the PWHL! I was saying on the bench that we grew up watching this as youngsters and now we get to do it. It’s just a friendly reminder of what this league has provided us and what this opportunity means. That was a heck of a hockey game. So certainly, I enjoyed it. I really liked how we played, and I think it’s probably one in the history books for a little while.”
Charge Emily Clark on how she’s feeling after seven periods of hockey. “Honestly, I’m feeling good. Obviously, my legs are a little bit sore, but yeah, there’s no long faces. At some point, you just laugh. It’s almost comical. It’s just a blast. This is what you grow up watching and dreaming of doing. The mustard was coming out, the pickle juice! This is exactly what we want to do, and the difference was one shot.”
NOTABLES
The longest game in PWHL history (135:33) comes exactly one year following the previous record, a triple-overtime result (111:44) between Boston and Montréal in Game 2 of last year’s semifinal on May 11, 2024.
Ann-Renée Desbiens set a PWHL record with 63 saves in the game, surpassing the previous high of 56 set by Boston’s Aerin Frankel in last season’s triple-overtime game. Desbiens’ previous high was 50, set in that same contest.
Gwyneth Philips made 53 saves, the third-most all-time, and the highest total for a rookie goaltender in PWHL history. Her previous high was 35 saves, which she made in her PWHL debut against Minnesota on Dec. 19.
Four players surpassed 50 minutes of ice time in the game: Montreal’s Erin Ambrose (58:09), Kati Tabin (54:19), Cayla Barnes (53:46), and Anna Wilgren (51:04) and Ottawa’s Jocelyne Larocque (56:01) and Ashton Bell (50:19). The all-time record for ice time was set by Ambrose, who played 61:33 in Game 2 against Boston last postseason.
Ottawa’s 65 shots are the most in any PWHL game, regular season or playoffs. Montréal held the previous record with 57 shots in their triple-overtime Game 2 loss to Boston during the 2024 playoffs. With 56 shots in this contest, Montréal now holds the third-highest shot total in PWHL history.
Laura Stacey recorded 12 shots on goal, setting a new PWHL single-game record. She previously held the mark with nine shots in last year’s triple-overtime Game 2 against Boston.
Catherine Dubois’ goal was her first point of the series and first game-winner of the season. She had scored in three straight games to end the regular season.
Kristin O’Neill scored her first points of the postseason, recording a goal and an assist, for her first multi-point performance of the year. She now has three goals in five career playoff games, while totaling five regular-season goals in 53 career games. The goal ended a 25-game drought, spanning 24 regular-season games and one playoff game.
Stacey scored her first career playoff goal, marking her first point of the series, after recording a single assist in last year’s postseason. The Victoire forward also holds the record for most career goals scored against Ottawa, with seven.
Aneta Tejralová scored her first career playoff goal and has points in back-to-back games, becoming the first Charge defender to record multiple postseason points.
Brianne Jenner became the first Charge player to record a multi-point playoff performance. The Ottawa captain has scored in three consecutive games for the first time this season and has goals in seven of her last 11 games. For only the second time in team history, the Charge failed to pick up the win when their captain found the twine.
Emily Clark tallied her second assist of the series to extend her point streak to three games (3A).
Tereza Vanišová recorded her second assist of the postseason and has assisted on a Jenner goal in three consecutive games.
Wilgren recorded two assists, bringing her total to three in the series, which leads all rookies. The Victoire defender has now notched three points over a two-game span for the first time in her career.
Kaitlin Willoughby tallied her first career playoff point with an assist on O’Neill’s goal, matching her regular-season total through 27 games between Toronto and Montréal.
Jennifer Gardiner recorded her second assist of the series, bringing her to two points overall. She’s tied for second among rookies in postseason scoring.
Marie-Philip Poulin recorded 31 faceoff wins tonight — the most in PWHL history — surpassing her own previous high of 28, set during last year’s 3OT game against Boston. She finished 31-for-54 in faceoffs, giving her a 57.4% winning percentage.
Montréal scored on their first shot on goal for the fourth time this season. It was also their first even-strength goal of the postseason — both goals in Game 1 came on the power play — and their second-ever even-strength playoff goal scored at home across four contests.
All five of Montréal’s playoff games across two seasons have been decided by one goal, with four of five going to extra time. The Victoire’s last five games – two playoff and three regular season – have all ended in a 3-2 final score. The team has a record of 1-2-0-2 in these games.
The Charge overcame a third-period deficit for just the second time this season. The first came against Boston on Feb. 20, when Ottawa erased a 2–0 deficit and tied the game with three seconds left in regulation before falling in overtime.
Ottawa’s goal at 19:18 of the third period marks the latest game-tying goal in PWHL playoff history. The record was previously held by Boston’s Amanda Pelkey, who tied the game at 16:17 of the third period in Game 3 against Montréal on May 14, 2024. Boston went on to win that game in overtime.
Both teams earned a 5-on-3 advantage in overtime with neither capitalizing, marking the first two 5-on-3 power plays in PWHL postseason history. Montréal went 0-for-3 on the power play in overtime during last year’s playoffs.
This afternoon’s game marks the first overtime contest of the postseason. Five games went to extra time in the playoffs last season, with Boston winning four of these games, including three against Montréal. Minnesota won the other overtime game, 1-0, in the semifinal against Toronto.
At 9:19 of the second period, Ottawa initiated a Coach’s Challenge on a potential scoring play that was waved off due to goaltender interference. The on-ice officials, in consultation with the PWHL Central Situation Room, reviewed all angles and upheld the call on the ice. As a result of the unsuccessful challenge, the Charge were assessed a minor penalty for delay of game.
Jincy Roese was scratched from the Charge lineup for a second straight game with an upper-body injury.
SCORESHEET RECAP
Ottawa 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 – 2
Montréal 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 – 3
1st Period-1, Montréal, O’Neill 1 (Willoughby, Wilgren), 2:25. Penalties-Serdachny Ott (interference), 5:36.
2nd Period-2, Montréal, Stacey 1 (Wilgren, Gardiner), 8:35. Penalties-House Ott (delay of game – coaches challenge), 9:19.
3rd Period-3, Ottawa, Tejralová 1 (Jenner), 15:26. 4, Ottawa, Jenner 2 (Clark, Vanišová), 19:18. Penalties-No Penalties
1st OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-served by Boreen Mtl (too many players), 5:43; Murphy Mtl (slashing), 7:19; Savolainen Ott (delay of game), 14:00; Boyd Ott (tripping), 14:26.
2nd OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties
3rd OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties
4th OT Period-5, Montréal, Dubois 1 (O’Neill), 15:33. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Ottawa 8-11-14-11-8-5-8-65. Montréal 8-9-6-7-8-8-10-56.
Power Play Opportunities-Ottawa 0 / 2; Montréal 0 / 4.
Goalies-Ottawa, Philips (56 shots-53 saves). Montréal, Desbiens (65 shots-63 saves).
A-7,114
THREE STARS
- Ann-Renée Desbiens (MTL) 63/65 SV
- Catherine Dubois (MTL) GWG
- Gwyneth Philips (OTT) 53/56 SV
SERIES
Series tied 1-1
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Game 3: Tuesday, May 13 at 7 p.m. ET (TD Place)
