Ann-Renée Desbiens earned her fourth shutout of the season with a 17-save effort as the Montreal Victoire defeated the Minnesota Frost 4-0 in Professional Women’s Hockey League action at Place Bell on Sunday.
Maureen Murphy had a goal and an assist, while Maggie Flaherty, Dara Greig and Laura Stacey also scored for Montreal (9-3-0-5). Hayley Scamurra had two assists.
It was the Victoire’s fifth straight win and eighth win in their last nine games.
Montreal — who was in last place on Jan. 4 — now leads the PWHL with 33 points. They’re a point ahead of Boston in the PWHL standings, although the Fleet have two games in hand.
Victoire blank Frost for 5th consecutive victory, remain perfect at Place Bell
Nicole Hensley made 29 saves for the Frost (7-2-3-4), who were playing their first game after the Olympic break.
The Victoire opened the scoring with two quick goals in the first period. Flaherty kept a clearing attempt in the zone at the blue line and fired in a wrist shot for her third of the season.
Montreal doubled its lead just 71 seconds later when Greig drove the net and picked up a loose rebound for her third of the year.
Murphy’s fourth of the season made it 3-0 with 8:37 remaining in the game when she beat Hensley from the slot. Stacey added a short-handed goal with 5:51 remaining on a shot entering the zone from the right circle.
Minnesota was 0 for 4 on the power play, including 54 seconds of 5-on-3 time in the third period. The closest they came with the two-player advantage was Sidney Morin’s shot that rang off of the post. Montreal was 0 for 2 with the extra player.
Montreal captain Marie-Philip Poulin returned to action after missing one game with a lower-body injury suffered during the Olympics. She had an assist on Stacey’s goal.
On the other end of the ice, Minnesota captain Kendall Coyne Schofield, who was placed on long-term injured reserve earlier in the week, missed the first game in her PWHL career. She previously participated in all 69 regular-season contests and 18 playoff games the Frost have played.
All three of the Frost’s losses in their last seven games have come against the Victoire.
Up next, Montreal travels to Toronto to play the Sceptres on Tuesday. The Frost’s next opponent is also the Sceptres, who they’ll visit next Sunday.
