PWHL Montreal is set to host PWHL New York Tuesday. With Montreal coming off an overtime loss, and New York coming off an overtime win, momentum will be key to this game.
PWHL Montreal jumped ahead by two goals on Saturday before falling to Boston in overtime. PWHL New York fell behind by two goals on Sunday before beating PWHL Minnesota in overtime. It's a tale of two teams, and a message about momentum that both teams will take into Tuesday's game.
As Montreal coach Kori Cheverie stated following their loss to Boston, her team needs to manage emotions.
“We need to make sure that we’re not getting too high or too low." she said. After that second goal, we probably got a little too high.”
New York on the other hand found themselves down two goals and fought their way back against previously undefeated Minnesota. Here's a look at the keys to Tuesday's game.
New York Will Need To Shut Down MPP
Marie-Philip Poulin is awake now, and was named the PWHL's First Star of the week. The adage to not wake a sleeping giant holds truth in this regard, because now that Poulin has found the net in the PWHL, she'll be hungry for more. Given she scored her hat trick against New York, Poulin is likely to enter full of confisence. She fired five shots in each of her last two games, and when they start going in for Poulin, no one on the planet is more dangerous. The key for Montreal continues to be finding players that can compliment Poulin. Maureen Murphy and Poulin have started to build chemistry, and last game with Ann-Sophie Bettez on her wing, the trio looked dangerous.
Montreal's Second Line Needs To Keep Building
Strangely enough across the PWHL, top lines seem to be cancelling each other out, and it's often the second line that teams are relying on. Last game against Boston, Laura Stacey fired nine shots on net, and many of those, including her goal, were set up by Tereza Vanisova. With Kristen O'Neill in the middle, the trio has been dangerous.
New York's Net Has Been Tough To Beat
Through three starts Corinne Schroeder has a 1.96 GAA and 0.942 save percentage. Despite facing the most shots of any netminder in the PWHL, Schroeder has stepped up and given New York a chance to win, which in their last game against Minnesota was enough. The team started slow, but Schroeder kept them in until New York could capitalize. Don't expect an easy game from New York in net if they start Abbey Levy either, but at this point they may choose to ride Schroeder's hot hand. Schroeder made 39 saves in New York's most recent win over Minnesota.
What happened in their first meeting?
The teams have met once already this season with Montreal taking a 5-2 win. It was Poulin's breakout game of the season scoring a hat trick, and Montreal also got contributions from Kennedy Marchment and Catherine Dubois in the game. After New York's Jessie Eldridge scored the opening goal of the game it was all Montreal, and Corinne Schroeder couldn't handle the barrage. New York has a strong defensive core, but in this game the unit, including the defensive play of their forward group looked pedestrian. New York opened the game strong and looked like they had too much pace for Montreal. In this match up, if New York wants to beat Montreal, they'll need to sustain that pace and momentum.