Concordia Remains Undefeated Riding Performances From Leblanc and Lussier

Arianne Leblanc and Émilie Lussier were Concordia's top performers helping them improve to 15-0 on the season in USports women's hockey.

MONTREAL -- Arianne Leblanc made 25 saves and Émilie Lussier scored twice as the No. 1 Concordia Stingers blanked the Montreal Carabins, 5-0, Friday night. 

The shutout was Leblanc's fourth this season for the Stingers, who improved to 15-0. 

The Repentigny, Quebec native stopped eight shots in the first period, 12 in the second and five in the third. Her efforts early in second were particularly outstanding as Concordia maintained a scoreless tie through an 84-second 3-on-5 and a major penalty.

"She made a couple of really big ones that maybe changes the momentum from Montreal," Concordia head coach Julie Chu said of Leblanc. "Thankfully, she made the saves so then we were able to generate some offense from there. I think that helped us get into a little rhythm and push, and we were able to put three away there."

Lussier got Concordia on the board with the only goal it would need midway through the second period. The forward knocked in a rebound from the right side of the crease at 11:48. She struck again for her 10th of the season at 11:40 of the third to make it 4-0, collecting a pass from Zoé Thibault in the slot and firing it past Carabins netminder Aube Racine.

Chloé Gendreau doubled the Stingers' lead a little more than three minutes after Lussier's first goal. The junior collected a rebound off the end boards before scoring on a wrist shot from the right side at 15:29. Forty seconds later, defender Rachael McIntyre scored from the slot. Thibault finished with a pair of assists. Jessymaude Drapeau struck on the power play with 8.8 seconds remaining in the contest.Concordia looked shaky in the opening period, allowing Montreal to dictate the pace of play. The Carabins outshot the Stingers 5-1 by the midway point in the first.

Although Concordia fared better to start the second, it quickly found itself in penalty trouble when Camille Richard went off for holding at 2:10. Just 25 seconds later, its top scorer Émilie Lavoie was assessed a major and tossed from the contest for boarding Kaleanne Laforge. The Montreal defender left the game with an upper-body injury and did not return.

Despite giving up six shots during the penalties, the Stingers escaped with the deadlock in tact.

"One of the things I was proud of is whatever came our way or whatever ended up happening because of different scenarios," Chu said. "We adjusted to it and we were able to have some really big penalty kills in the second period that could have changed the momentum of the game."

Concordia puts its unblemished record on the line again Sunday at McGill. Montreal returns to action the same day against Ottawa. Both teams play at 2 p.m.