New York welcomes Montréal back to UBS Arena for the first since Jan. 10
ELMONT, NY (February 21, 2024) – The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) schedule continues this week with a pair of Wednesday night games, including New York and Montréal, at 7:00 p.m. ET at UBS Arena. Tonight’s game will be a Black History Month celebration.
WHERE TO WATCH
Fans in the United States can watch live on MSG/MSGHD, and stream on the Women’s Sports Network, and on the league’s YouTube channel. Canadian viewers can stream the game on TSN+. Jamie Hersch will have the play-by-play call alongside analyst David Starman. French coverage can be seen live on RDS2 with host André-Anne Barbeau, desk analyst Karell Émard, Claudine Douville on play-by-play, and Isabelle Leclair providing colour commentary.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATION
Tonight will be a celebration of Black History Month at UBS Arena with a number of different activations throughout the game. Local Black artist Dana Mclean designed special t-shirts for New York players. Fans are invited for a pre-game fireside chat from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. ET in the Verizon Lounge. The event, hosted by Erica L. Ayala of Black Rosie Media, will feature Saroya Tinker, the PWHL’s Manager of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives & Community Engagement, former professional women’s hockey player Cherie Stewart, and Fatou Bah from Black Girl Hockey Club – a non-profit organization that focuses on making hockey more inclusive for not only Black women, but our family, friends, and allies. Anthem buddies lining up on the blue line will be from Black Girl Hockey Club and Riverbank Hockey – an organization that provides young people of all backgrounds the opportunity to participate in and enjoy the sport of hockey in a positive and wholesome environment. Black-owned local businesses will engage with fans throughout the concourse, plus in-game recognition of diverse hockey groups and Black hockey players.
SETTING THE STAGE
Two familiar teams prepare to face-off for the third time this season, and second time at UBS Arena. Montréal (4-3-2-2) enters the action second in the standings with 20 points, just one point back of first place Minnesota, while New York (2-3-1-4) is tied for fourth place with 13 points. Montréal has had New York’s number in both two previous meetings. Their 5-2 win on Jan. 10 in this building sparked a stretch of seven consecutive games with a point. That streak ended on Friday night with a 3-0 loss to Toronto in the Battle on Bay Street, but Montréal rebounded with a 2-1 win over Minnesota on Sunday at Place Bell. New York is also fresh off a 2-1 win, defeating Boston in overtime on Saturday in what was their third straight overtime game. The streak included an impressive 4-3 comeback win in Ottawa on Feb. 4, and a 2-1 loss to Minnesota in their last home game at Total Mortgage Arena on Jan. 28. This is just New York’s fourth home game of the season, the fewest of all PWHL teams to date, with the team still in pursuit of that first home win. Montréal has won four of its six road games so far this season. Their next road game will also be against New York on Mar. 6 in Bridgeport.
THE SEASON SERIES SO FAR
Two of Montréal’s four regulation wins have come against New York, counting a 5-2 win at UBS Arena on Jan. 10 and a 3-2 win at Place Bell on Jan. 16. Marie-Philip Poulin powered the Montréal offense with a hat trick – her first three goals of the season – in the first encounter. Catherine Dubois scored her first goal in her PWHL debut, and Kennedy Marchment’s first PWHL goal held as the game-winner. Maureen Murphy and Tereza Vanišová picked up two assists each. Jessie Eldridge and Ella Shelton both scored for New York. Elaine Chuli earned the victory between the pipes with a 30-save performance in her first PWHL start, playing opposite Corinne Schroeder who also stopped 30 shots. Six days later, Poulin was once again the hero with a third period game-winner. Gabrielle David and Leah Lum also scored for Montréal, and Murphy chipped in another two assists. New York battled back from a 2-0 deficit with goals by Jaime Bourbonnais and Eldridge, while Alex Carpenter produced two helpers. That game featured a completely new goaltending matchup with Ann-Renée Desbiens earning the win with 30 saves over Abbey Levy who turned aside 27.
TOP PERFORMERS
New York’s Alex Carpenter stands alone atop the PWHL scoring race with 12 points, including six goals and six assists, in 10 games. She’s riding a three-game point streak where she’s recorded three goals and one assist with back-to-back overtime winners. Ella Shelton is tied for the scoring lead amongst defenders with nine points, counting three goals and six assists, and Jessie Eldridge cracks the top-10 in points with eight, powered by her four goals and four assists. In the team’s 2-1 win in Boston, Emma Woods scored a goal and an assist, and Jaime Bourbonnais picked up two assists, both recording their first multi-point efforts of the year. Montréal captain Marie-Philip Poulin is tied for third in league scoring with nine points, including six goals to equal Carpenter for third most. Laura Stacey is one back in the goals department with five. Maureen Murphy’s eight points ranks second on the team, and her seven assists are tied for the league-lead. Tereza Vanišová is third in team scoring with seven points, counting one goal and six assists. Claire Dalton’s second goal of the season on Sunday snapped an 0/24 drought for Montréal on the powerplay.
SPECIAL START FOR LEVY
Abbey Levy will make her fourth start of the season, but first at UBS Arena, which holds special significance. Not only is the 23-year-old a native of nearby Congers, NY, she grew up an Islanders fan and was a Season Ticket Member with her family for decades. She rode in the Zamboni as a toddler, and her parents, Margaret and Justin, first met at an Islanders game. Levy is still in search of her first PWHL win and sports a 2.68 goals-against-average and .923 save percentage in three appearances. Two of her three starts were made at Total Mortgage Arena.
OLYMPIC MEMORIES
On this day, Feb. 21, 2002, Canada captured its first Olympic gold in women’s hockey with a 3-2 victory over the United States in Salt Lake City. Jayna Hefford, PWHL Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations, scored Canada’s winning goal, and the team was coached by Montréal General Manager Danièle Sauvageau. Playing in late February surely brings countless memories for the 15 Olympians on these two rosters with a combined 20 medals. Olympians on New York include Alex Carpenter (2014 Silver, 2022 Silver), Johanna Fällman (2018, 2022), Abby Roque (2022 Silver), Jill Saulnier (2018 Silver, 2022 Gold), Ella Shelton (2022 Gold), Claire Thompson (2022 Gold), Micah Zandee-Hart (2022 Gold). For Montréal, Olympians include Erin Ambrose (2022 Gold), Ann-Renée Desbiens (2018 Silver, 2022 Gold), Mélodie Daoust (2014 Gold, 2018 Silver, 2022 Gold), Dominika Lásková (2022), Leah Lum (2022), Marie-Philip Poulin (2010 Gold, 2014 Gold, 2018 Silver, 2022 Gold), Laura Stacey (2018 Silver, 2022 Gold), Tereza Vanišová (2022).
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
“I think we’ve had a positive trend lately and we’ve had good energy in practice so we’re excited to be back at UBS Arena to hopefully get our first home win for the season,” – Johanna Fällman, New York
“Montréal has had our number the last few games. If we hope to get a few of those points back, we’ll have to match their tempo step for step while doing our best to manage the offensive threat that they pose. We’re looking forward to the challenge here on home ice at the UBS!” – Howie Draper, New York
“We need to continue putting the same effort we put forward on Sunday. New York will present many challenges for us, but I know our team will be ready.” – Sarah Lefort, Montréal
“We are aiming to continue where we left off on Sunday. There are no easy games in this league, and we know we will have our work cut out for us tonight. Our players seem ready and focused so it should be a fun evening.” – Kori Cheverie, Montréal
QUICK HITS
New York (+2) is second in goal differential and Montréal (+1) is tied for third…New York (2.40) is tied for first in goals-per-game average and Montréal (2.18) ranks fifth in goals-per-game…Montréal (2.09) allows the second fewest goals-per-game and New York (2.20) allows the third fewest on average…Montréal has scored the first goal in seven of their 11 games, New York in five of their 10…New York has scored 11 of its 21 regulation time goals in the third period, Montréal’s best period for scoring is the first with eight goals…Montréal leads the league with six one-goal wins…Montréal (-37) is fifth in shot differential and New York (-70) ranks sixth…New York (27.90) is fourth in shots-per-game and Montréal (27.27) ranks sixth on average…Montréal (30.73) allows the fifth most shots-per-game and New York (34.90) allows the sixth most on average…New York (6/28) is second in powerplay efficiency at 21.4%…Montréal (2/34) ranks sixth on the PP at 5.9%…New York (26/29) is second in penalty kill efficiency at 89.7%…Montréal (34/38) is third on the PK at 89.5%…Alex Carpenter (NY) leads the league with 12 points…Ella Shelton (NY) is tied for the league-lead in scoring among defenders with nine points…Maureen Murphy (MTL) is tied for the league-lead with seven assists…Carpenter and Shelton share the league-lead with five powerplay points…Abby Roque (NY) is tied for the league-lead with 12 penalty minutes…Carpenter leads New York with 38 shots on goal…Laura Stacey leads Montréal with 37 shots…Carpenter (113/185) leads New York in face-offs and a 61.1% win rate…Sarah Bujold (48/82) leads Montréal with a 58.5% face-off efficiency…Marie-Philip Poulin (54.4%) leads the team with 248 draws…Abbey Levy (NY) has made three starts with a 2.68 goals-against-average and .923 save percentage…Ann-Renée Desbiens (MTL) has three wins in seven starts with a 2.09 GAA and .928 SV% that ranks fourth…Catherine Daoust (MTL) is celebrating her 29th birthday today.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
NEW YORK:
Roque | Carpenter | Saulnier
Aurard | Downie-Landry | Eldridge
Levis | Woods | Giguère
Vespa | Labelle | Packer
Fällman | Shelton
Hobson | Bourbonnais
Zandee-Hart | Baker
Levy | Schroeder
Scratches: Norcross, Post, Zafuto
MONTREAL:
Stacey | Poulin | Dalton
Vanišová | O’Neill | Murphy
Lefort | Bujold | Bettez
Dubois | Dempsey | David
Keopple | Ambrose
Tabin | Daoust
Lum | Bizal
Laganière
Desbiens | Chuli
Scratches: Boissonnault, Lásková, Marchment
OFFICIALS:
Referees: Sydney Harris (Monument, CO) and Liam Maaskant (London, ON).
Linespersons: Dustin McCrank (Guelph, ON) and Kirsten Welsh (Conway, PA).
Follow the league on all social media platforms @thepwhlofficial plus team accounts @pwhl_montreal and @pwhl_newyork.