Montreal ends its regular season with a 4-3 loss to Boston

Montreal ended its first regular season in the Professional Women's Hockey League with a 4-3 loss against Boston on Saturday afternoon at the Tsongas Center.

After being treated with a good scare in the third period, the Boston team (8-4-9-3 – 35 points) qualified for the playoffs thanks to this victory in the regular time, having previously lost to Minnesota 5 -2. day in New York.

Boston secured this qualification for Kali Fratkin's decisive net, a wrist shot from the blue line that deflected off the stick of Amanda Boullier before stunning Anne-Rene Desbiens under her arm with 80 seconds left in regulation.

In turn, the Montreal team (10-3-6-5 – 41 points) did not gain anything from this match, as it was limited to second place.

However, head coach Cory Chevery, defender Erin Ambrose and captain Marie-Philippe Poulin each reminded Friday that it's important to address the less-than-expected aspects of the team's play. play off.

They accomplished part of that goal in the third period, when they scored three consecutive goals to overturn a 0-3 deficit.

Mikyla Grant-Mentis and Mariah Keopple on the power play in the third period fooled Aerin Frankel, who faced 31 shots first.

Poulin tied the game with his 10th of the season at 16:51.

Bouliet and Melody Daust each had two assists in the loss.

Hilary Knight (1-1), Hannah Brandt (0-2) and Suzanne Tapani (0-2) led the Boston offense with two points apiece.

Alina Muller in the first period and Megan Keller in the second period also got the better of Desbiens, who made 31 saves.

The Montreal team now enters playoff mode and will play the first two games of a three-of-five semifinal series at Place Bell on May 9 and 11.

It remains to be seen who it is against.

The chain ends

In this final match of the regular season, Chevery used the same lineup he played against Ottawa exactly one week earlier.

That includes Desbiens, who had a terrific performance in a 2-0 win over Ottawa and a 64-minute, 29-second shutout against New York.

At 15:19 of the first period, the streak ended when Knight Desbiens pounced on a loose puck in the half circle and pushed it into the back of the net.

That goal started a period of dominance for Boston, who took five of the next six shots before the end of the period.

They doubled their lead with 78 seconds left in the first period thanks to a forgotten Müller in the slot after a throw from Desbiens' right.

The Montrealers had some good moments in the first half of the first period, especially on the power play.

However, despite spending nearly two full minutes in Boston's zone, Montreal managed just one shot on Frankel.

To see in the video