Sarah Lefort scored the game winner, Elaine Chuli made 21 saves, and the Montreal crowd earned a late game defensive assist as PWHL Montreal beat Minnesota in front of 10,172 fans.
Sarah Lefort scored the game winner, Elaine Chuli made 21 saves, and the Montreal crowd earned a late game defensive assist as PWHL Montreal beat Minnesota in front of 10,172 fans.
The crowd at Place Bell in Laval was so loud that PWHL Montreal passed on a shot attempt in the dying seconds of the game thinking time had expired. The noise was drumming from the stands as 10,172 packed the rink cheering Montreal back into the win column with a 2-1 victory over first place Minnesota.
With more than four seconds left on the clock and the puck on Grace Zumwinkle's stick in the Montreal zone, Zumwinkle wound up to shoot before stopping her motion and allowing the final four seconds to click down. The confusion on the ice was obvious, and the defensive assist clearly went to the Montreal crowd who caused the disruption.
Claire Dalton opened the scoring for Montreal in the first period on the power play with Kati Tabin and Leah Lum assisting.
Late in the frame however, Kendall Coyne Schofield corralled a rebound off a Claire Butorac shot crossed the goal mouth and went top shelf on her backhand to beat Elaine Chuli.
In the third period, Montreal's Sarah Lefort scored her first career PWHL goal, which ended up serving as the game winning marker as Montreal's defense stood tall, and Elaine Chuli won her fourth start of the season to remain undefeated. She stopped 21 of 22 shots in the game and now sits with a .961 save percentage and 1.24 GAA with a 4-0-0 record.
Montreal is back in action Wednesday, February 21 on the road against New York.