PWHL New York has a 'dream come true' in its first game at UBS Arena despite loss to Montreal

The women of PWHL New York stepped out of the tunnel in their turquoise jerseys Wednesday night and skated out on the ice in the direction of a thrilling new experience.

It was a chance to play hockey for the first time in one of their two new homes — the bigger one, the one with a Long Island address, the one where the Islanders play, UBS Arena.

“I think it’s top notch,” blueliner Ella Shelton said. “It’s the treatment that we’ve been wanting and deserve as well . . . To be out there as a player, myself, it was kind of a dream come true to play in a big NHL rink.”

The dream didn’t quite have the ending New York wanted. Marie-Philip Poulin scored a hat trick in a 5-2 Montreal win that left the home team with its second straight loss after an opening win.

The Professional Women’s Hockey League features an Original Six of New York, Boston, Minnesota, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. There’s a 24-game regular-season schedule. It began for the league with New York at Toronto on Jan. 1, ringing in a special New Year for women’s hockey.

Past women’s pro hockey leagues didn’t survive. The PWHL is hoping to be around for good. A strong franchise in this market would help.

“We’ve got a team that wants to win badly and is a very skilled team,” New York coach Howie Draper said. “We’re all still trying to learn what makes it each other tick.”

The team also plays at 10,000-seat Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut, home of the Islanders’ AHL affiliate. It drew 2,152 fans in last Friday night’s opener there. New York lost to Toronto, 3-2, after winning that first game, 4-0.

This Elmont opener drew 2,201. The arena can hold 17,255 for hockey, although some upper sections were covered by black curtains for this game.

“When we have a crowd coming like they did in Minnesota with 13,000 and Ottawa with 8,000, and even the first couple of games with us at Bridgeport and Toronto with 2,000 more, it’s a good start,” New York GM Pascal Daoust said. “Now we need to show consistency.”

Same for the team’s play.

It was a 2-2 game when Kennedy Marchment took a feed from Gabrielle David and sent a shot past Corinne Schroeder from the slot to give Montreal a 3-2 lead at 4:58 of the third.

It took just 1:05 for Montreal make it a two-goal margin. Poulin passed the puck to Maureen Murphy, who sent it right back to Poulin for an easy goal at the right doorstep.

Poulin picked up her hat trick with 1:07 left, sending the puck into an empty net.

“It’s been all of us together for many years to be able to push for this league,” Poulin said after Montreal moved to 2-1. “ . . . You can tell when we jump on the ice how excited we are.”

Catherine Dubois jammed the puck under Schroeder to give Montreal a 2-1 lead in the second. But Shelton, who had a goal and an assist, beat a screened Elaine Chuli on a power play to tie it 26 seconds into the third.

It didn’t end well for New York, but Jessie Eldridge, who scored its other goal, still said the experience of playing here “was awesome.”