The Ottawa Charge continue their unbeaten streak in overtime, beating the Montreal Victoire 2-1 in front of the second-most fans in a Canadian Takeover Tour game.
In the league's first-ever game in Winnipeg, the Ottawa Charge found themselves back in the win column, beating the Montreal Victoire 2-1 in overtime on Rebecca Leslie's 12th goal of the season. The win is Ottawa's first over Montreal this season, and moves them to within one point of the final playoff spot held by the Toronto Sceptres.
The Canada Life Centre and 15,225 fans welcomed the league and two of the province's own as Montreal's Kati Tabin and Ottawa's Jocelyne Larocque played their first professional game in their home province. The game was a hard-fought battle between two teams that could very well have gone either way. Ottawa's Gabbie Hughes opened the scoring in the second period, while Montreal's Nicole Gosling tied it up in that same period. The game remained tied until overtime, where Leslie scored just 12 seconds into the period. The goal was her fourth game-winning goal, and her second overtime winner in the past three games.
“I think it was just overall a great team win," said Leslie. "Also, I just look at Jocelyne (Larocque), and she's had such an amazing career. She's someone that I look up to, and a lot of the girls in this team look up to as a role model. So, to be able to come to Winnipeg and spend some time with her and her family, it's just an honour. There are people like Joce (Larocque) and Carla (MacLeod) that paved the way for us, so I’m just really happy that she's had this moment to play in her home province today.”
Ottawa rebounded well in this game after a lacklustre, "park it and forget it" game against Minnesota on March 18. They finished with the lead in shots on goal, 28 to 21, which has been an opportunity for the team over the past two games, and performed well in the faceoff dot, 59% to 41%. Ottawa was also able to hold the league's best power play at bay, as Montreal went 0-for-3 in the game. Penalty killing is an area that's left a lot to be desired of late, so a performance like that should provide a confidence boost.
The victory moves them to a perfect 5-0 in overtime games and 3-0 in Takeover Tour games this season.
Montreal played a strong game and was every bit deserving of a win. What stands out about their performance is that they don't need their top players to generate chances, although they often do. The Victoire are a team built on solid depth, and while they only found the back of the net once, that depth was creating opportunities. A good example of that depth was Dara Greig's performance, who played an exceptional defensive game and deserves recognition, even though it won't show up directly on the scoresheet. She made multiple blocks, helping to break up scoring opportunities for the Charge, while keeping the game within striking distance.
“Fans were great, and it was so cool having family and close friends here today," said Kati Tabin. "To be able to play in front of people I haven't played in front of since high school, so almost 11 years now, it's been a long time. I'm grateful I am in this position, and it's great that so many little girls get to look up to us and dream to be in the spot that I am.”
The game showed how much the Victoire misses and values Marie-Philip Poulin's play, who remained out of the lineup, especially in the faceoff dot. While Montreal was able to consistently regain possession of the puck off the draw, starting with possession is part of what makes the team so deadly. Case in point was Gosling's tying goal, generated directly from the faceoff win.
"There are different moments throughout a game that create momentum, kill momentum," said head coach Kori Cheverie. "And I think that there were moments when we created a lot of momentum, and I thought there were moments when we lost the momentum, and that kind of stuff is going to happen. And all year, we've been a team saying, "let's learn from it." We don't want it to happen again.”
Montreal continues its road trip as they next face Minnesota on Wednesday, while Ottawa's nearly month-long road trip continues when they face Seattle next Sunday.
These two will face each other one final time this regular season when they meet at the Canadian Tire Centre on April 3.