The Montreal Victoire leapfrogged the Minnesota Frost in the PWHL standings Wednesday night with a statement 3-0 win over the Frost.
The Montreal Victoire put together a statement win over the Minnesota Frost Wednesday night on the road. The two teams only days ago found themselves part of a three-way tie for first in the PWHL standings alongside the Boston Fleet. It's why Montreal's 3-0 win spoke volumes.
After a scoreless first period, Montreal's Catherine Dubois jumped on a rare Lee Stecklein turnover scoring on a slap shot from the high slot with only 41 seconds left in the frame.
Dubois' goal seemed to push the Victoire's confidence over the edge as they came out and scored twice in the opening half of the third. First it was a second effort goal from Hayley Scamurra who grabbed her own rebound and calmly pulled the puck around a sprawled Maddie Rooney.
Lina Ljungblom closed out the scoring for Montreal 4:54 later. Minnesota failed to get the puck deep while they were going on a change and got caught all on one side of the ice. Kati Tabin recognized the opening and hit Lina Ljungblom on the right win where she skated in to beat Rooney.
Ann-Renee Desbiens stopped all 21 shots she faced in the game for the shutout. It was Desbiens' fifth shutout of the season, trailing only Aerin Frankel who recorded her sixth shutout of the season last night.
The Frost lead the league in goals for by 11 goals this season making Desbiens' performance and the team's defensive play even more impressive.
The win vaulted Montreal over Minnesota as the teams swapped places between second and third in the PWHL standings.
Montreal is back in action Saturday in Detroit on the PWHL Takeover Tour, while Minnesota's tour of the top of the PWHL standings continues Sunday when they host Boston.