March 2, 2024
With a fresh contract in her back pocket, Melodie Daoust shines as Montreal beats Boston at home.
It was a fairytale type of day for Melodie Daoust, who signed her first PWHL contract early in the day, only to go on to shine in her debut a few hours later. Prior to today, Daoust had been a member of Montreal’s reserve player list, and signed a ten-day standard player agreement before Saturday’s contest. If this evenings match was anything to go on, however, it is safe to say that Montreal will be seeing a lot more of Daoust.
It took Daoust less than four minutes to make her mark on the game, as her shot rebounded off of Boston goal tender Aerin Frankel and fell right to captain Marie-Philip Poulin who buried her seventh goal of the year. But her night was just getting started. Daoust would also add a goal of her own off a tip from a Poulin shot early in the second period, to put Montreal up by two, continuing her fairytale story with her young son sat in the stands, cheering her on.
See Also: Dalton hat-trick propels Montreal to victory over Ottawa
The chemistry on display between Poulin and Daoust shouldn’t come as a surprise, as the duo have spent a large portion of their hockey careers together – both with the Canadian National team and in the former Canadian Women’s Hockey League. The three-time Canadian Olympian looked at ease on the top line, alongside Poulin and Laura Stacey, despite not having played a game this season.
Melodie Daoust would go on to earn the first star of the game, in her first game in the PWHL. A testament to how deep the PWHL talent pool really is.
Boston replied with a goal of their own as Montreal defender Erin Ambrose got caught on a play and turned over the puck to Boston’s Alina Müller. Her shot was turned away by Montreal goalie Elaine Chuli but Boston captain Hillary Knight converted on the rebound. Ambrose would redeem herself early in the third period, scoring her third goal of the season from the point to return Montreal’s two game lead.
The game was a physical stand-off from the moment the puck dropped until the final whistle, and looked at several times that tempers might boil over. The bigger Boston squad were looking to impose their size advantage all game long, rubbing players out along the boards, and play quickly got chippy. Pushing and shoving after the whistle grew throughout the game and play intensified more and more.
Montreal’s Kristin O’Neill took a cross-check that knocked her down and another cross-check to the back of the head as she laid prone on the ice from Boston’s Taylor Girard following a play in front of the Boston net in the second period. O’Neill wasn’t too pleased with the play and she let her feelings be known with a few shoves at Girard as the two players skated to their respective benches. The two would jostle each other the rest of the way and while fighting is not permitted in the PWHL; it looked for a second that we were about to witness exactly that. Instead, cooler heads prevailed.
As the game grew more and more intense, Boston began to find themselves in penalty troubles. Shortly after Montreal’s third goal, Boston’s Jamie Lee Rattray took a roughing penalty following a scuffle that probably could have been coincidental roughing penalties to both teams. Already down two goals, Boston did well to prevent further damage and kill off the penalty.
Boston’s rough housing continued, and lead to a penalty to Susanna Tapani. Again, Boston’s defenders did well to keep the goal gap at two, but seconds after the penalty to Tapani had ended, Boston’s Jessica Digirolamo threw a high hit on Montreal’s Kati Tabin that sent her flying through the air and earned Digiorolamo two minutes for checking to the head, and she was probably lucky to not have earned herself a major penalty on the play.
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Montreal would end the game on the resulting power play and take the win by a score of a three to win in front of 3232 fans at the Verdun Auditorium.
Boston are next in action when they visit Toronto on Wednesday while Montreal returns to play against New York on the road the same day. With the win, Montreal remains atop of the league standings while Boston remains middle of the pack.
