LPHF | Montreal ends its regular season with a 4-3 loss to Boston

(Lowell) The Montreal team ended its first regular season in the Professional Women’s Hockey League with a 4-3 loss to the Boston team on Saturday afternoon at the Tsongas Center.

After being treated to a good scare in the third period, the Boston team (8-4-9-3 – 35 points) qualified for the playoffs thanks to this victory in regular time, combined with the loss of 5 -2 to Minnesota earlier a day in New York.

This qualifier, Boston owes it to the decisive net of Kaleigh Fratkin, on a wrist shot from the blue line that deflected off the stick of Amanda Boulier before surprising Ann-Renée Desbiens under her glove with 80 seconds left in regulation time.

The Montreal team (10-3-6-5 – 41 points), on the other hand, had nothing to gain from this match as it was already limited to second place.

But head coach Kori Cheverie, defender Erin Ambrose and captain Marie-Philip Poulin, for their part, recalled on Friday that it was important to refine the facets of the team’s play that were not up to expectations.

They accomplished part of that goal in the third period, when they erased a 0-3 deficit by scoring three goals in a row.

Mikyla Grant-Mentis and Mariah Keopple, both on the power play in the third period, first fooled Aerin Frankel, who faced 31 shots.

Poulin, with his 10^e of the season, and tied at 4:51 p.m.

Boulier and Mélodie Daoust collected two assists each in the defeat.

Hilary Knight (1-1), Hannah Brandt (0-2) and Susanna Tapani (0-2) led the Boston attack with two points each.

Alina Müller, in the first period, and Megan Keller, in the second period, also beat Desbiens, who made 31 saves.

The Montreal team now enters playoff mode and will host the first two games of the three-of-five semifinal series on May 9 and 11 at Place Bell.

It remains to be seen against whom.

A sequence ends

For this final game of the regular season, Cheverie used the same formation as against Ottawa exactly one week earlier.

That includes Desbiens, who put in a spectacular performance against Ottawa in the 2-0 win, blanking his rivals for 64 minutes and 29 seconds, including last game against New York.

The sequence ended at 15:19 of the first period when Knight pounced on a loose puck in the Desbiens semi-circle and pushed it into the net.

This goal started a dominance of the Boston players, who made five of the next six shots before the end of the period.

They doubled their lead with 78 seconds left in the first period thanks to Müller, who had been forgotten in the lane following a throw-in to Desbiens’ right.

The Montrealers had some good moments in the first half of the first period, especially during a power play.

But despite spending nearly two full minutes in the Boston zone, Montreal only managed one shot on Frankel.