Marie-Philip Poulin had a hat trick lifting PWHL Montreal to a 5-2 win over New York.
Marie-Philip Poulin had a hat trick lifting PWHL Montreal to a 5-2 win over New York.
Montreal forward and team captain Marie-Philip Poulin showed emphatically why she is such a dangerous offensive weapon with the second hat trick in Professional Women's Hockey League history to lead the visitors past New York, 5-2, at UBS Arena on Wednesday night.
The hat trick -- the second in as many PWHL games -- occurred just four days after Minnesota's Grace Zumwinkle recorded the history first hat trick against Poulin's team at the Xcel Energy Center last Saturday.
Poulin, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion with the Canadian national team, was the trigger on an odd-player rush for an insurance goal that made it 4-2 before she deposited an empty netter with 1:07 left in the contest.
Her second goal from around the crease came just over a minute after Kennedy Marchment had put Montreal ahead 3-2 five minutes into the final stanza.
Poulin's first goal and first this season took place just eight minutes into the first period of New York's debut in Elmont at the home of the New York Islanders.
New York had knotted the score at 2-2 with their first power-play goal when Ella Shelton's riser from the high slot eluded Montreal goalie Elaine Chuli just a half minute into the third period. It was Shelton's first goal since she made history in Toronto with the first league tally.
The home squad had been unable to convert on its first eight power-play attempts this season.
Chuli, who starred between the pipes for the Isobel Cup champion Toronto Six of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) during the 2022-23 season, turned aside 25 of the 27 shots she faced and was solid on three of New York's four power-play opportunities.
Ann-Renée Desbiens had started Montréal’s first two games. However, Chuli was given the chance to play opposite Corinne Schroeder (23 of 27 saves) in a battle of former PHF netminders. Schroeder was a member of the Boston Pride.
Reserve Player Catherine Dubois, who is on a 10-day contract, staked Montreal to a 2-1 lead midway through the second period when she persevered in traffic and sent the puck trickling between Schroeder's pads. It was Montreal's first power-play goal this season as both teams were able to convert on the advantage.
That go-ahead tally came after Jessie Eldridge (New York) and Poulin (Montreal) each scored their first goals of the PWHL season within a two-minute span of the first 10 minutes of the back-and-forth action.
After Eldridge went top shelf over Elaine Chuli's blocker to cap a rush from the right wing, Poulin beat Schroeder with a snap shot from in deep for the equalizer.
One of the assists on Eldridge's tally went to Alex Carpenter, who now has points (2 goals, 2 assists) in all three games.
Ella Shelton also had a helper for New York, which has scored first in each of their games but has lost its last two. Erin Ambrose supplied the feed on the rush that enabled Poulin to break in through the low slot.
New York came through with yet another 5-on-3 penalty kill late in the first period. It was their third such disadvantage already this season, although two of those three were for only a few seconds.
A century in the making
This isn't the first time that teams from New York and Montreal have christened professional hockey play in the area.
Back on Dec. 15, 1925, the first-year New York Americans played their first National Hockey League home game at Madison Square Garden against the defending Stanley Cup champion Montréal Canadiens.
Home sweet home
Several players on the rosters of New York and Montreal were part of PWHL history in their home state.
New York goaltender Abigail Levy, a 23-year-old Boston College graduate, hails from Congers, a town situated in the foothills of the Hudson Valley. New York defender Olivia Zafuto, a 26-year-old who spent last season with the PHF’s Boston Pride, is from Niagara Falls.
On the visiting side, Montréal has four American players on its team including Buffalo native Maureen Murphy, a 24-year-old forward and recent graduate of Northeastern University.