Marie-Philip Poulin Clutch in Montréal's 1-0 Triumph in 3OT
PWHL Montreal Victoire

Marie-Philip Poulin Clutch in Montréal's 1-0 Triumph in 3OT

Published on May 6, 2026 under Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL)
Montreal Victoire News Release


LAVAL, QC - Captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored her first-ever postseason overtime winner - ending a marathon in triple overtime - to lead the Montréal Victoire to a 1-0 victory over the Minnesota Frost in Game 2 of the semifinal series on Tuesday night at Place Bell. The goal ended the fourth longest game in PWHL history at 104:02 and evened the series 1-1, in what was just the second playoff victory in Montréal's team history. Both goaltenders were exceptional, trading saves through three periods of regulation and three periods of extra time. Ann-Renée Desbiens secured her first career playoff shutout and eighth in 27 total games this season with a 38-save performance. Maddie Rooney did all she could despite the loss, stopping a career-high 51 of 52 shots on net. Momentum swung throughout regulation with shots even at 27 apiece through 60 minutes, then the Victoire took a commanding lead in overtime, outshooting the Frost 25-11. Poulin called game by drifting from one knee to hammer home the winner on a play set up by a cross-ice feed from Abby Roque, following a pass from Laura Stacey.

Minnesota will host Game 3 of the series at Grand Casino Arena on Thursday night, followed quickly with Game 4 on Friday.

QUOTES

Montréal Head Coach Kori Cheverie on how different Game 1 and 2 were: "Today's game was probably what we expected for the series. And sometimes in Game 1 that's going to happen as well, where you have two very offensive teams on both sides. I think both teams were trying to figure out: what is this series going to look like. How physical is it going to be? How much defense do we need to play? We realize both teams need to play a lot of defense in the first game, and I think both teams cleaned that up for Game 2. You know, we expected that they would come with a tighter game plan, and that's what we needed to do as well. It was a hard-fought game by both teams."

Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin on scoring the game-winning goal: "We're really happy. It was truly a team effort over the first three periods and the next three periods. We had that intensity, that drive to win. It was shift after shift, and we stayed confident. We rolled up our sleeves and went to work-and I think we're not finished."

Minnesota Head Coach Ken Klee on the team's overall performance: "It was a tight game. Obviously, night and day from the other day as far as goals going in pretty quick. Today, both goalies played well, and both teams played very hard. Certainly proud of our group and how hard they battled. They had to play almost two games-six periods of hockey is a lot."

Frost alternate captain Kelly Pannek on tonight being Minnesota's seventh straight overtime postseason game: "It doesn't feel like seven because at least you have a whole season in between them. It's what you play for all year-to give yourself a chance coming into the playoffs, and I think that's something we kept reiterating: we were in that game until we weren't. We were in it, we had a chance to go up two in the series. It's fun playing playoff hockey, it's fun playing in [overtime]. That's when tensions are high, and a goal is the difference. We weren't on the right side of it tonight, but I was really proud of how our team played."

NOTABLES

The four longest games in PWHL history have all featured either Montréal or Minnesota. The two longest came in a pair of Game 2s at Place Bell on May 11, 2025, when the Victoire defeated Ottawa 3-2 in quadruple overtime after 135:33 of play, and a 2-1 triple-overtime loss to Boston on May 11, 2024 that lasted 111:44. Minnesota and Ottawa played the third-longest contest on May 24, 2025, with the Frost earning a 2-1 triple-overtime victory in a game that stretched 109:57.

The Frost have played in seven consecutive playoff games decided in overtime, winning four straight before tonight's loss, for a record of 5-2 in that span. Minnesota has gone to overtime nine times in their 20-game postseason history (6-3). Six of the Victoire's nine total postseason games have required extra time (2-4). Four of the six games this season between the teams have now been decided in overtime.

Only two other PWHL Walter Cup Playoff games have ended scoreless through regulation, both of which came in Minnesota, including the Frost's double-overtime win over Toronto on May 15, 2024 and Boston's double-overtime victory against Minnesota on May 26, 2024. Ottawa also beat Montréal, 1-0 in regulation, to end last season's semifinal on May 13, 2025.

Minnesota has played in four games all-time (regular season and postseason) decided by a score of 1-0, holding a record of 0-2-1-1, and Montréal has five such games, with a 2-0-1-2 record.

The Victoire moved past Boston for the league lead with nine shutouts this season, while Frost goaltenders have blanked opponents twice. In 2025-26, Montréal was only left off the scoresheet in their season opener at Boston. Minnesota has now been shut out four times, three of which came at the hands of the Victoire (twice in Laval).

Minnesota has been shut out three previous times in the playoffs (May 8 and 10 vs. Toronto; May 26 vs. Boston) and they have shut out opponents four times (May 13 and 15 vs. TOR; May 21 and 29 vs. Boston), all coming in the 2024 PWHL Playoffs.

The Frost have played 15 of their 20 playoff games without a goal scored in the opening period, including seven in both the 2024 and 2025 PWHL Playoffs for a record of 4-5-3-3. The Victoire have played six games without an opening-frame marker, with a pair of such games in all three postseason campaigns for a record of 0-1-3-2. These teams remained scoreless through the first 20 minutes of action in three of the four games of the 2025-26 regular-season series as well, with the Victoire winning each matchup.

This is the fourth time in five all-time playoff series where Minnesota has been tied 1-1 after two games on the road, winning Game 2 in each of the previous three. They went on to beat Boston in five games of the 2024 PWHL Finals and defeated both Toronto and Ottawa in four games last season. Montréal earned a 1-1 split on home ice with a Game 2 win last season against Ottawa before losing the series in four games.

Marie-Philip Poulin recorded her first career playoff game-winning goal and the 11th game-winner of her PWHL career. The only three overtime goals of her career have come this season against Minnesota. Montréal's captain has now tallied a goal in all three of the Victoire's postseason campaigns. She took 31 faceoffs tonight, a mark she has reached five previous times in her PWHL career, including four in the postseason. Team Canada's "Captain Clutch," who co-led all skaters with eight shots on goal today, extended her point streak to seven games (4G, 4A).

Ann-Renée Desbiens won her second-ever playoff game and totaled the third-most saves in her postseason career with 38, sitting behind her 63 on May 11, 2025 and 50 on May 11, 2024. She is the first netminder to record a shutout in the 2026 postseason, bringing her season total to eight, including three against the Frost, matching Aerin Frankel for the league lead. The Victoire netminder played her second game of the season, and seventh of her career, where she reached 35 or more saves.

Maddie Rooney suffered a postseason defeat for the first time since May 19, 2024 (Game 1 of the Walter Cup Finals vs. Boston) after winning Game 1 of this series and going a perfect 5-0 in the 2025 playoffs, including three consecutive wins with 30 or more saves in the finals, en route to Minnesota's second straight championship.

Rooney's 51-save performance far surpassed her previous career high of 37 recorded on May 22 in the Frost's 2-1 overtime win in Game 2 of the 2025 PWHL Finals at Ottawa. Her total ranks fifth in PWHL playoff history, with the league's top six save performances all occurring in Montréal: Desbiens (63, May 11, 2025 vs. Ottawa), Frankel (56, May 11, 2024; 53, May 9, 2024), Gwyneth Philips (53, May 11, 2025), Rooney (51, tonight) and Desbiens (50, May 11, 2024 vs. Boston).

Abby Roque notched her third point of the series with a primary assist. She is one of 11 players in PWHL history to reach 35 career assists (regular season and playoffs), and the only player on the list to have never played a game in the postseason until 2025-26. The veteran forward extended her point streak to three straight games (1G, 3A).

Laura Stacey has four points across two games in the semifinal series (3G, 1A), double her total from the 2024 and 2025 playoffs combined. The Victoire alternate captain celebrated her 32nd birthday today with an assist that extended her point streak to nine consecutive games at Place Bell (7G, 7A). In Game 1 on Saturday, she became the first player in PWHL history to record a hat trick in a postseason game.

Kelly Pannek co-led all skaters with eight shots on goal, alongside Poulin, surpassing her previous career-high of five achieved in six games (four in the postseason). The Minnesota alternate captain took a career high 46 faceoffs, surpassing her 45 recorded in Game 3 of the 2025 PWHL Finals where Minnesota won 2-1 in triple overtime. Her 21 wins marked the third time she has ever reached at least 20 wins at the dot in a single game.

Lee Stecklein led the Frost with 47:05 time on ice, while Nicole Gosling skated for 43:27 to lead the Victoire. Gosling was left off the scoresheet for the first time after tallying a point in seven consecutive games (1G, 8A), just the second player in PWHL history to achieve the feat (Alex Carpenter with New York in 2024-25).

Jade Downie-Landry played in her first career playoff game for the Victoire and notched a career-high four hits tonight, matching her total with New York in a 4-0 loss to Boston on Feb. 12, 2025.

Madison Bizal was inserted into the lineup for her first playoff game as a member of the Frost, having previously played three playoff games as a member of Montréal in the inaugural season.

Britta Curl-Salemme missed her first game of the season for the Frost, serving a one-game suspension.

Natalie Buchbinder was left off Minnesota's lineup for a second consecutive game, listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

THREE STARS

Marie-Philip Poulin (MTL) GWG

Ann-Renée Desbiens (MTL) 38/38 SV

Maddie Rooney (MIN) 51/52 SV

NEXT GAME

Game 3: Thursday, May 7 at Minnesota at 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT

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Professional Women's Hockey League Stories from May 6, 2026


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