“I want to win!”

That’s the answer Lina Ljungblom gave when asked about what she brought back from the Olympics.

And win is what her team has been doing ever since.

Montreal has won 10 of its last 12 games since the Olympic break and is undefeated in its last six. Moreover, the team has at least one point in its last 15 games for a total of 39 points out of 45. The Victoire sit first in goals against and penalty killing, second in goals for and power play.

“We didn’t win at the Olympics,” Ljungblom added, talking about Team Sweden. “So, I want to win here!”

Ljungblom is part of the depth the Montreal Victoire is praised for in the absence of key players like Marie-Philip Poulin and Maureen Murphy.

When the 24-year-old left for Milan, she was scoreless in six games after missing the first eight games of the season due to mononucleosis. On her first night back after the break, she had one goal and one assist. With a goal and two assists in her last two games, she sealed a 1-0 win against Boston at TD Garden on Saturday, moving Montreal into first place with a four-point lead over the Fleet.

“Obviously it feels good to have some points, but I'm happy too, that I'm feeling I'm getting better almost every game,” she said before taking the road to Boston. “And you know, especially with the start of the season and then Olympics and stuff, it's been a tough season, but I feel like I still have more in me and I mean, I want to play my best hockey in the playoffs, so hopefully I will do that.”

Since the Olympics, Lina Ljungblom already has four goals and three assists in 18 games, surpassing her number of points from last season, in 11 fewer games.

According to Ljungblom her success is partially due to knowing her environment a lot better.                    

“I mean, obviously it was a big step for me to move from Europe and to play here in the professional league and everything that comes with that. And I mean, for this season, I knew a little bit more about the country, how it works in the league, how it works here in Montreal, and you start to know how the coaches work too, and I mean, everything. So, it was easier to move to Montreal this season for sure than last season because I knew what I was going to expect.”

It was well known around the team that the 2024-25 Montreal roster was a special one. A team that bonded both on the ice and outside of the rink. Expansion and free agency partially dismantled it and approximately half of the team was new this season.

That said, the spirit around the team seems the same.

“It's hard to miss the first month with a new team and stuff, but I think we built something special,” explained Ljungblom. “And I think like the new girls that we didn't have last year that we have now are really, really good people, every single one of them. And that helps a lot to create this special feeling in the team. That's something I can feel now that we're really close in this team and everyone is like chatting with everyone, and I think you can see it on the ice, too. I mean, we're having fun outside hockey, but when we're on the ice, everyone wants to win, and we always want to play better and better.”