LOWELL — It wouldn’t have been a true Boston-Montreal ice clash without extra hockey.
The Boston Fleet and the Montreal Victoire’s last three meetings had gone past regulation entering Tuesday’s Professional Women’s Hockey League contest at the Tsongas Center, the longest active streak in the league.
So it was no surprise when the teams were deadlocked at a 2-2 score after 60 minutes of regulation and five minutes of overtime to yield a shootout.
And it was also no surprise Hilary Knight had her name written all over the victory. Recording a goal and an assist while going 1-for-2 in the shootout, another masterful performance by Boston’s franchise centerpiece was on full display in Boston’s 3-2 win in front of 3,375 fans.
Each team had six attempts in the shootout. For Boston (8-6-4-6), Alina Müller, Knight, and Susanna Tapani lit the lamp, while Erin Ambrose and Marie-Philip Poulin scored for Montreal (10-6-3-5). But Poulin wouldn’t beat Emma Söderberg twice — she stoned Montreal’s superstar to clinch the win after making 26 saves.
Knight entered Tuesday with 12 goals and 12 assists while at the forefront of Boston’s playoff push, notching seven points in her last three games. Boston’s captain opened the scoring before assisting on Tapani’s tally and unleashing a booming slap shot labeled to the top right corner in the shootout to increase Boston’s unbeaten streak on home ice at the Tsongas Center to seven games.
Montreal was assessed four penalties in the first period — including a pair of consecutive infractions to yield a five-on-three — but it wasn’t until the last minor penalty of the period that the Fleet took advantage of.
After Catherine Dubois went to the box for tripping at 18:40, Knight deflected a shot from the point by Sidney Morin with 51.2 seconds remaining in the frame to break the ice in Lowell and convert on the power play.
Morin’s wrist shot came off her stick projecting to reach the top half of the net, but a perfectly positioned Knight in the slot redirected the sailing shot into the netting.
Söderberg made three stops on a Montreal power play just 1:41 into the middle frame, but the visitors knotted the game with 13:52 to play in the period when Lina Ljungblom found Amanda Boulier uncovered in front of the net for her first tally of the season.
But Knight connected with Tapani in transition to send her on a partial breakaway just over five minutes later. Tapani collected the puck in the slot before unleashing a wrist shot into the top right corner of the cage to pot her 10th goal of the season while providing Boston with a 2-1 lead at 11:47.
The one-goal cushion didn’t last long. Boston was whistled for a penalty with 4:30 left in the frame, and Montreal made them pay for it as Anna Wilgren found twine to knot the game at 2-2 ahead of the third.
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