LAVAL — The Ottawa Charge didn't feel like the underdogs entering their semifinal series against the Montreal Victoire.
They showed why on Thursday night.
Captain Brianne Jenner opened the scoring and Shiann Darkangelo buried the winner to lift the Charge past the Victoire 3-2 on the road in Game 1 of their best-of-five PWHL matchup.
“We have a lot of respect for them and a lot of respect for the way that they play,” Jenner said of Montreal. “But at the same time, we're confident.
“When we bring a solid 60 minutes, we have a great chance of beating any club."
Ashton Bell also scored while Gwyneth Philips stopped 31 shots for Ottawa, which won four of its last five games to reach the post-season for the first time.
The Charge also took the series opener after the Victoire chose to play them.
Montreal (12-7-3-8) topped the PWHL regular-season standings, earning the right to select third-place Ottawa (12-2-4-12) over the fourth-place Minnesota Frost.
Instead of focusing on Montreal's decision, head coach Carla MacLeod said the Charge worried about themselves.
“We don't need external motivation,” MacLeod said. "We've come into this playoffs confident in what allowed us to get to this point.
“It's not about who we're playing or where we're playing. It's that we are playing, and we're playing Ottawa Charge hockey right now."
The playoff agony for Montreal, meanwhile, continued.
Marie-Philip Poulin and Maureen Murphy replied for the Victoire, and Ann-Renee Desbiens made 24 saves before 6,570 towel-waving fans at Place Bell.
Montreal remained winless in four playoff games after losing in three-straight overtimes to Boston in last year’s opening round — despite dominating the shots each outing.
Alternate captain Laura Stacey wore the weight of those defeats on her sleeve Thursday.
"It's tough. Hockey is tough,” she said. “I had to take a deep breath before coming in here, because it hurts. Losing hurts, especially in the playoffs when you want it that bad.”
“You don't want to see that. You don't want to hear that,” she added about the string of playoff losses. "I feel it. Of course, I need to put a chance away too. It's just as much on me as it is every single person in that locker room.”
It was a winnable game for Montreal. The Victoire drove the play much of the night, limited Ottawa’s Grade A chances and went 2-for-2 on the power play while holding Ottawa 1-for-3.
Philips had a solid night in net for the Charge, but didn’t steal the game, either.
Darkangelo took a pass from Emily Clark, found an opening and beat Desbiens with a wrist shot from the top right circle to give Ottawa the 3-2 lead at 9:17 of the third period — and that was the difference.
“Clarky made a great pass out to me, and kind of made my job easy to get the puck on net — and in back the net,” Darkangelo said. “Just try to hit the net there, and good things happen."
Philips shut the door the rest of the way, denying Poulin’s backhand from the slot with seven minutes left. Three minutes later, Stacey’s wrist shot rattled off Philips's cage.
“Wasn't our best game, from every single one of us, from the top to the bottom, goaltending out. We all can be better in Game 2,” Stacey said. “There is some positive to take in the sense of, ‘OK, it wasn't our best, and we were still right there.' So if we can put our game together for 60 whole minutes, it'll look scary.”
Jenner opened the scoring with a power-play goal 4:54 into the game, converting off a pass from Tereza Vanisova after defender Kati Tabin chipped the puck over the glass for a delay-of-game penalty.
Montreal equalized with a power-play goal of its own when Murphy deflected a pass from Tabin into the top right corner at 12:13 of the first period.
Bell gave Ottawa a 2-1 lead by burying a feed from Danielle Serdachny into a gaping net with Desbiens sprawled out at 5:07 of the second.
But Poulin — who scored a league-leading 19 goals this season — evened the score again with another power-play marker two minutes later, sneaking a one-timer short side past Philips.
Game 2 goes Sunday afternoon back in Laval, Que., where Montreal will try to exorcise its playoff demons.
"We have to win a hockey game,” head coach Kori Cheverie said. “If we dwell on what's in the past, we're not going to make it very far, so we have to regroup, move forward.
“It's not an ideal position to be in, but it truly does show the character that's going to be in that room for a response, and that's what I'm really looking forward to.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2025.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
