The Ottawa Charge fell flat against the Montreal Victoire on Dec. 6, as they were held to a single goal in a 2-1 loss at the Canadian Tire Centre.
With Charge captain Brianne Jenner in the lineup for the first time this season and a franchise-record crowd of 11,065 fans, Ottawa brought plenty of excitement and expectation to the Ottawa Senators’ venue.
In the teams’ last meeting to start the season on Nov. 30 in Montreal, the Victoire bested the Charge 4-3 in a shootout. But the Charge bounced back with a 3-2 victory in their own home opener against the Toronto Sceptres to carry into their rematch with Montreal.
Falling 2-1 to the Victoire in their rematch, the Charge only managed to beat Montreal goaltender Elaine Chuli once on 27 shots.
“I think just internally we weren’t quite ready to go,” said Charge head coach Carla MacLeod. “We had a lot more jump in our last game, it just took us a little bit to find our way and unfortunately at that point, we’re trying to dig out of a hole.”
Although Charge goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer kept Montreal from scoring through the entire first frame, the team in front of her fell short of taking the lead.
Another scoreless 20 minutes was not on the menu for the Victoire in the second frame, who quickly set up offensively on the power play, feeding passes to star forward Marie-Philip Poulin.
Ottawa local and Charge forward Rebecca Leslie drew a boarding penalty against former Ottawa defender Amanda Boulier to put the Charge on the power play.
But through two consecutive power plays, Ottawa could not materialize their chances.
On the first power play, Ottawa forward Emily Clark nearly caught Chuli off her post, but Chuli closed the gap to keep the Charge off the board.
Just eight seconds after the first advantage expired, Victoire forward Dara Greig was booked for high-sticking. The Charge sent out their power play unit for another opportunity to take the lead.
But as the puck reached the Charge blue line, Victoire’s Poulin stole possession from Aneta Tejralová and took off on a breakaway toward Maschmeyer.
“Behind the D, I was able to get it and obviously, just try to skate as fast as possible,” Poulin said.
Facing one of the game’s best, especially Poulin, is a nightmare situation for any goaltender.
“There’s no greater challenge in facing Marie-Philip Poulin on a breakaway, so it’s always a good opportunity for me to stop her,” Maschmeyer said. “And unfortunately, she got me tonight.”
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Poulin effortlessly ripped a snapshot to score short-handed and unassisted, killing Ottawa’s power play in the process.
With five minutes to go in the second period, Ottawa finally created some tangible offence through captain Brianne Jenner who — off a feed from rookie blueliner Stephanie Markowski — fired a shot off Chuli’s pad. She redirected the rebound to an open Ashton Bell, who netted her first goal of the season.
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With a secondary assist on the play, Markowski recorded her first PWHL point. Markowski has already meshed with the Charge through her first three games of the season.
“She’s a great addition to our roster,” Jenner said. “Just a great kid in the dressing room, works so hard in practice and you can see the impact she’s already having on the ice in these games, so she’s playing with a lot of confidence and a lot of grit too.”
But less than three minutes later, Victoire forward Claire Dalton danced behind the Ottawa net before swinging a wraparound pass to her teammate Mikyla Grant-Mentis, who outmuscled Charge forward Gabbie Hughes in the slot to score against her former team.
“Every time I play Ottawa, I think I always have a little oomph under me,” Grant-Mentis said. “But it was nice to get a goal this time.”
Last season, Grant-Mentis played seven games for Ottawa before being released and picked up by the Victoire. This season, Grant-Mentis has scored a goal and an assist through the team’s first three games.
The Charge’s offence continued to flounder in the third period as a more confident Victoire squad held Ottawa to low-danger chances from the perimeter. As MacLeod pulled Maschmeyer with two and a half minutes to go, the Charge were desperate to find the back of the net.
Hope came in the form of a cross-ice pass from Charge rookie Danielle Serdachny to Hughes, whose one-timer was stuffed by Chuli.
With 45 seconds remaining, Charge defender Savannah Harmon fired a wrist shot which finally beat Chuli on the short side but failed to beat the post — despite celebrating as if the puck went in.
As the clock ran out, the Charge lost two of their first three games on the season. Heading into a long break, the Charge will have time to make adjustments ahead of their next matchup on the road against the Boston Fleet on Dec. 17.
Featured photo by PWHL
