Despite captain Brianne Jenner making her season debut, the Charge were unable to contain their former winger and Montreal’s stars

Former Ottawa Charge forward Mikyla-Grant Mentis spoiled captain Brianne Jenner’s season debut on Friday night, scoring the winning goal in a 2-1 Montreal Victoire triumph. The Victoire have won both of this season’s meetings with the Charge, previously topping them in their home opener on Nov. 31.

This second meeting between the teams was the first to be played at Canadian Tire Centre – the home of the Ottawa Senators – and the eighth NHL venue to host a PWHL game.

Not only that, but Jenner was making her first appearance of the season after missing the Charge’s first two games due to injury. She was Ottawa’s leading scorer last season, scoring 20 points in 24 games.

"It felt great," Jenner said. "Really excited to be back with this group. Miss being out there with them, so pretty excited."

The bright lights of the 18,000-plus seat venue seemed to heighten the nerves of both teams, as the first period was timid offensively. Defensive gridlock created a quiet start for goaltenders Emerance Maschmeyer and Elaine Chuli, who made her season debut for Montreal.

"Obviously came out a little bit flat, got on our heels the first couple periods, to be honest," said Ottawa head coach Carla MacLeod.

The sleepy opening frame opened up in the second, when Ottawa was gifted back-to-back power-play opportunities. However, perimeter play and a failure to create shooting lanes betrayed the Charge, leading to a forced turnover by Marie-Philip Poulin on defender Aneta Tejralová. Poulin raced down the ice and beat the glove of Maschmeyer for Montreal’s first jailbreak goal, marking the first time this season that Ottawa failed to score the first goal of the game.

"There's no greater challenge facing Marie-Philip Poulin on a breakaway, so it's always a good opportunity for me to stop her and unfortunately, she got me tonight," Maschmeyer said.

Montreal’s top line of Grant-Mentis, Poulin and Laura Stacey proved to be a handful for Ottawa’s defence, routinely hemming them into their defensive end shift after shift.

"We can see that we see each other a little bit more on the ice in the offensive zone and be able to create a little bit more offence in that sense," Poulin said of her line.

But Jenner sparked life back into the 11,065 in attendance soon after, picking up her first point of the season on a determined drive down the middle of the ice, picking up her own rebound for Ashton Bell to bury her first of the season. Stephanie Markowski’s secondary assist was her first PWHL point.

"[Markowski is] a great addition to our roster, just a a great kid in the dressing room, works so hard in practice and you can see the impact she's already having on the ice," Jenner said.

But Grant-Mentis slowed the momentum not even three minutes later, muscling her way to a net-front goal against her former team. The goal continued the dominance of Montreal’s top line.

"It felt pretty great," Grant-Mentis said. "I mean, every time I play Ottawa, I think I always have a little oomph under me, but it was nice to get a goal this time."

Ottawa mounted a more concentrated offensive front in the third period’s final minutes, but Chuli answered the call when needed. One shot slipped by her in the final seconds, courtesy of Savannah Harmon's one-timer, but the post saved the day for Montreal. Chuli compiled 26 saves on 27 shots and Montreal put on a defensive clinic for the majority of the frame, stymying Ottawa’s top weapons.

"I felt very confident every time the puck was around our crease," said Victoire head coach Kori Cheverie. "She kept things calm out there and then, obviously the cherry on top with the save at the end on the on the five on six. That's why I believe we have the top goaltending in the league."

Playing in Ottawa’s largest venue for the first time, the Charge set an attendance record, which MacLeod said was an impressive result given the time of year.

"This market is just flooded with hockey right now," she said. "You got 67s going, you got us, you got the Sens, we got world juniors coming in, it's Christmas, it's December. All these folks took time and money out of their day to come cheer us on at CTC, unbelievable."