Montreal's Gabrielle David, right, crashes into New York goaltender Corinne Schroeder as Schroeder protects her net during the first period of a PWHL hockey game. Montreal won 6-2 on Jan. 10, 2024, in Elmont, N.Y.Frank Franklin II/The Associated Press
Marie-Phillip Poulin scored a hat trick and Elaine Chuli earned a win in her first game in goal as Montreal beat New York 5-2 Wednesday at UBS Arena at Belmont Park.
Montreal bounced back from being shutout at Minnesota to post the most goals scored in a game by a Professional Women’s Hockey League club and Poulin, widely considered the best women’s hockey player of all-time, collected the league’s second three-goal game.
Called “Captain Clutch” by her Canadian teammates because she scored the game-winning goal in three of the four Olympics in which she played (2010, 2014, 2022), Poulin got Montreal’s first goal midway through the first period, then finished a breakaway by punching a pass from Maureen Murphy past the right skate of New York goalkeeper Corinne Schroeder.
She capped the scoring by firing a shot from centre ice into an open New York net.
Catherine Dubois scored a second-period goal for Montreal (2-1) and Kennedy Marchment scored an insurance goal with five minutes left in the third period.
Chuli had 30 saves on 32 shots from New York.
Schroeder, who earned a shutout in the opener at Toronto, had 30 saves on 35 Montreal shots.
New York got a first-period goal from Jessie Eldridge and Ella Shelton scored 27 seconds into the third period on an assist from Abby Roque.
New York (1-2) earned a shutout win over Toronto in the new league’s first game on New Year’s Day, but now lost a game at each of its two home game arenas, falling to Toronto at Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut on Friday.
Minnesota 3, Toronto 1
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Taylor Heise scored two goals with an assist as Minnesota remained the only unbeaten team in the Professional Women’s Hockey League, beating Toronto 3-1 on Wednesday night.
Heise, who set a program record for most games played during her five seasons at the University of Minnesota and recorded more than 200 points, scored her second and third goals of the season to stake Minnesota (3-0) to a 2-1 lead midway through the second period.
In the third period, she skated to the faceoff circle to the right of Toronto goalkeeper Kristen Campbell and fired a centring pass to a wide-open Kendall Coyne Schofield, who one-timed the puck home before Campbell could recover.
Toronto’s (1-2) lone goal came when Sarah Nurse scored in the fourth minute of the second period to even the game at 1-1.
Campbell, who has started all three of Toronto’s games, had 26 saves on 29 Minnesota shots. Nicole Hensley earned her second win in goal, turning away 31 of the 32 Toronto shots she faced.
Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle leads the PWHL in goals scored with four after posting a hat trick against Montreal on Saturday. Heise is now tied with Montreal’s Marie-Philip Poulin, who scored a hat trick Wednesday at New York, with three.
Minnesota set a record with 13,316 people in attendance at its home opener Saturday. Wednesday’s game had an announced attendance of 4,707.