Montréal Brings Offensive Power West Handing Vancouver First Home Loss
PWHL Vancouver Goldeneyes

Montréal Brings Offensive Power West Handing Vancouver First Home Loss

Published on December 20, 2025 under Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL)
Vancouver Goldeneyes News Release


VANCOUVER, BC - Coast-to-coast travel could not slow down the Montréal Victoire as they became the first PWHL team to beat the Vancouver Goldeneyes at the Pacific Coliseum, 4-2 on Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 12,127. The win extends Montréal's streak to four, on the heels of a shootout win over Toronto in the launch of the Takeover Tour in Halifax on Wednesday. Vancouver's loss was their first in four games on home ice this season. Sandra Abstreiter made her first PWHL start in 21 months for the Victoire, turning away 27/29 shots in a strong offensive back-and-forth showing between both teams. The game's first period saw just one goal, courtesy of Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin at 10:18. Three goals followed in the middle frame, starting with Dara Greig's first career goal to double the Victoire's lead just 1:48 into the second. Sophie Jaques cut Montréal's lead in half with her second goal of the season at 12:24, but the Victoire responded quickly with an unassisted goal from Natálie Mlýnková at 15:23 on a spectacular breakaway effort. Scoring opened quickly once more in the third with Michela Cava bringing Vancouver again within one with her first of the season at 1:07. Montréal sealed the victory with a 14:31 goal from Shiann Darkangelo, despite a strong offensive push from Vancouver with an extra attacker for the game's final three minutes. Emerance Maschmeyer returned to the Goldeneyes' net after a game away, turning aside 26/30 shots in her fifth game of the season.

Today was Vancouver's final game at Pacific Coliseum before the holidays, next facing Minnesota in Edmonton on Dec. 27 for the Goldeneyes first-ever Takeover Tour game. The Victoire continue their first West Coast road swing on Tuesday in Seattle before a well-earned holiday break.

QUOTES

Victoire Head Coach Kori Cheverie on the team's response playing back-to-back games on both sides of the country: "I think in both games, there were things as a collective we wanted to upgrade. The thing that I couldn't be prouder of is just [the players'] response and their attitude. To want to continue to build our team and build our group. The season is young, and we have to have that mindset of growing. It's hard to do what we just did, go coast to coast, and I couldn't be prouder of the response from this group."

Dara Greig on getting the win for Sandra Abstreiter in her first start in a Victoire uniform: "Even though this was her first game in front of the net, Sandy's a huge part of our team, and we see that every day in practice. She's always staying all day and taking extra shots, so when she was getting the start tonight, I don't think anyone had any type of hesitation. If anything, we had full confidence, and we're all super happy to get the win for her."

Vancouver Head Coach Brian Idalski on his team's performance: "I think we're still finding ourselves a little bit with what we do, who we are and being consistent with some of our decision making. When we get loose and we're not exiting clearly like at the beginning of the second period, we create a lot of problems for ourselves that we really don't need to. Montréal played a very structured, simple game, getting pucks off the glass and out and to the next level. For whatever reason, that's something we've been struggling a little bit with."

Goldeneyes forward Michela Cava on scoring her first of the season: "It feels really good. I've been a little bit frustrated, just trying to figure out how to get pucks in the net and be more creative and just finding my game. It felt really good to get one in there and hopefully they just keep rolling. Great crowd [in the Pacific Coliseum] and it was really loud."

NOTABLES

Montréal has won four straight games for the third time in team history. Last season, the Victoire had a four-game win streak from Dec. 6 to 30, 2024, and a six-game streak from Jan. 17 to Feb. 15, 2025, on route to a first-place finish.

Vancouver fired 29 shots on goal for the second straight game but have yet to outshoot an opponent in seven games this season.

Dara Greig's first career PWHL goal and multi-point game came in her 34th professional game. The second year forward had three assists for the Victoire last season with her most recent point coming in Montréal's final regular season game on May 3 in New York.

Marie-Philip Poulin scored her second goal of the season, with her first goal back on Nov. 25 vs. New York when she because the first PWHL player in history to reach 30 goals and 50 points all-time. The Victoire captain has three career goals in Vancouver, following a two-goal performance back on Jan. 8, 2025 in the Takeover Tour at Rogers Arena.

Natálie Mlýnková became just the second rookie to find the back of the net for a second time this season. The Czech second round pick has three points in her last four games and is now tied for third in rookie scoring.

Shiann Darkangelo's first point of the season was her first goal as a member of the Victoire and the ninth goal of her career. The veteran forward has scored points for three different teams (Ottawa, Boston and Montréal) across 58 career games.

Sandra Abstreiter's last PWHL appearance between the pipes came on Mar. 5, 2024 in her third game of the season with Ottawa, stopping 43/46 shots. The German netminder spent the 2024-25 season with the Victoire but did not see any game action outside of international competition. She's represented her country at five Women's Worlds, most notably earning Best Goaltender at the 2024 tournament with a .929 save percentage.

Sophie Jaques is the third defender to score two goals this season and leads all PWHL blue liners in shots with 19, four more than the next closest rearguard.

Michela Cava's first goal of the season was her third point as a Goldeneye. The former Minnesota forward had three goals in the Frost's first three games last season (Dec. 1-7, 2024), and 14 goals and 13 assists across 54 regular season games for the two-time Walter Cup Champions.

Tereza Vanišová assisted on both of Vancouver's goals, her first multi-point game of the season and the 11th of her career. The helpers were her third and fourth of the season, bringing the Czech forward more than halfway to her 2024-25 season total of seven in 30 games with Ottawa.

Claire Thompson has assists in each of Vancouver's four home games, and in three consecutive games. It's the first time the defender has had a three-game point streak since she notched nine points (1G, 8A) in five games from Dec. 7, 2024 to Jan. 2, 2025 for Minnesota. Her sixth point of the season ties Boston's Megan Keller for the most among defenders.

Abby Roque's third assist and fourth point of the season came on Poulin's goal. The duo also teamed up on Nov. 25 for Poulin's last goal and Roque's last assist. The left winger had a career-high 11 assists last season for New York.

Hayley Scamurra's first assist and second point of the season was a special one, coming on Pacific Coliseum ice where her father, Peter Scamurra, also tallied an assist as a member of the Washington Capitals on Dec. 9, 1978 against the Canucks. The Buffalo, NY forward has suited up for all three of Canada's three original PWHL teams across 54 career regular season games, scoring 15 points (7G, 8A).

Jessica DiGirolamo tallied her first point as a member of the Victoire with a secondary assist on the team's fourth goal of the game, while recording three shots and four hits, her most in a game this season. The defender's first point last season came in Boston's 10th game.

Emerance Maschmeyer became the fourth goaltender this season to start five games and the third to make three starts on home ice. She is also one of three goaltenders to face 30 or more shots three times this season.

Maureen Murphy led all skaters with six shots on goal, a new career-high for the Victoire forward.

Vancouver had a goal overturned by video review with 2:30 remaining in the third period when the PWHL Central Situation Room, in consultation with the on-ice officials, determined that Gabby Rosenthal used a distinct kicking motion to propel the puck into the net.

Catherine Dubois missed her second consecutive game for the Victoire and is listed day-to-day.

THREE STARS

1. Dara Greig (MTL) 1G, 1A

2. Marie-Philip Poulin (MTL) 1G

3. Tereza Vanišová (VAN) 2A

STANDINGS

Montréal (3-1-0-1) - 2nd Place

Vancouver (2-1-0-4) - 4th Place

UPCOMING SCHEDULES

Montréal: Tuesday, Dec. 23 at Seattle 7 p.m. PT / 10 p.m. ET

Vancouver: Saturday, Dec. 27 vs. Minnesota (in Edmonton) at 1 p.m. MT / 12 p.m. PT / 3 p.m. ET

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Professional Women's Hockey League Stories from December 20, 2025


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