Marie-Philip Poulin's shootout winner lifts Victoire to 4-3 win over Charge

LAVAL, Quebec — Marie-Philip Poulin scored the shootout winner for the Montreal Victoire in a 4-3 win over the Ottawa Charge to open the season for both teams on Saturday night.

The Victoire captain buried the only goal of the five-round shootout after missing a previous attempt and a breakaway late in overtime.

Jennifer Gardiner, Laura Stacey and Abby Boreen scored for Montreal before a crowd of 10,033 at Place Bell. Goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens stopped 29 shots.

Tereza Vanisova, Danielle Serdachny and Emily Clark scored for Ottawa, which missed the playoffs last season.

Ottawa’s goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer had 42 saves.

Clark opened the scoring 7:49 into the first period after her open-ice hit on Victoire forward Kristin O’Neill went unpenalized.

Serdachny, drafted second overall in this year’s draft, doubled the lead 2:20 into the second. The Edmonton forward’s pass in front deflected off the skate of Montreal’s Kati Tabin and into the net.

Takeaways

Victoire: First-round draft pick Cayla Barnes drew into the lineup after missing nearly all of training camp with a lower-body injury.

Charge: Captain Brianne Jenner, who led the team with 20 points last season, was out for the game with an upper-body injury.

Key moment

In the dying seconds of overtime, Poulin powered her way to a breakaway after a strong backcheck, but didn’t beat Maschmeyer.

Key stat

The Victoire dominated in shots on net by a 36-19 margin through two periods, but Maschmeyer held the Charge in the game. Ottawa’s netminder repelled 19 shots in the first period.

Up next

The Charge host the Toronto Sceptres in their home opener Tuesday. The Victoire host the New York Sirens on Wednesday.