LAVAL, QC– Nicole Gosling scored with less than three seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime, and Abby Roque netted her second goal of the game 2:29 into the extra frame as the Montréal Victoire defeated the Ottawa Charge 3-2 to take a 1-0 series lead in the PWHL Walter Cup Finals on Thursday night at Place Bell. Rebecca Leslie scored twice for the Charge while Victoire alternate captain Laura Stacey assisted on both of Roque’s goals.
The Charge outshot the Victoire 10-5 in the first period but were unable to solve Ann-Renée Desbiens as the game stayed scoreless heading into the first intermission. Leslie broke the deadlock with 3:04 remaining in the second period, capitalizing on a Victoire turnover at the Charge blue line. After Desbiens stopped Leslie’s initial shot on the rush — where the forward toe-dragged around a sprawling defender to create the chance — Leslie buried her own rebound from the slot to give Ottawa a 1-0 lead. Roque tied the game at 12:12 of the third period with her first goal of the night, taking a feed from Nadia Mattivi, who carried the puck below the goal line before finding Roque, where she roofed the puck past Gwyneth Philips. Ottawa responded quickly as Leslie restored the Charge lead with her second goal of the game. The forward showed patience in the slot before sliding the puck five-hole to make it 2-1 with 4:04 remaining in regulation. After Stacey exited the game with an apparent injury with 28 seconds left, Montréal rallied with the extra attacker as captain Marie-Philip Poulin gained the offensive zone before throwing the puck toward the front of the net, where Gosling found it through traffic to tie the game. Stacey returned for overtime and recorded her second assist on the winner, getting a stick on the puck before it deflected off Roque’s mask and into the net. Desbiens and Philips each made 23 saves in the contest.
Game 2 of the best-of-five series is set for Saturday at Place Bell at 2 p.m. ET.
QUOTES
Ottawa alternate captain Jocelyne Larocque on being 2.1 seconds away from winning and then losing in overtime: “It’s unfortunate. There are little things that we can adjust to be better, but we are happy with our game. You must have a short memory and have that kind of goldfish mindset and be excited for the next one. I know I’m excited about it and I know my teammates are too. I’m just as confident as I was before game one that we can win the Walter Cup.”
Charge Head Coach Carla MacLeod on her team’s fifth straight game in overtime in the PWHL Walter Cup Finals going back to last season: “Welcome to the PWHL and welcome to the Walter Cup Final. That’s the reality. It’s hard fought. It’s two elite teams. Nobody is wanting to give an inch, and everyone is playing as hard as they can until every buzzer or whistle. So, it’s not shocking to any of us. This is just what we’ve signed up for. What a thrill. There’s nowhere else on the planet we want to be and the fact that we’re here, we’ve got some business to take care of and we’re most excited about that.”
Victoire Head Coach Kori Cheverie on the final moments of the third period and the start of the overtime: “It’s a group that certainly does care for each other. (Marie-Philip) Poulin did find another level in that moment, and once the puck was kind of pushed into the front of the net, I knew anything was possible. I didn’t believe it. I got hit in the face with a stick, they jumped on the bench…I didn’t know what was going on. But for our team to be able to pull something off like that, I just feel like it has gone with how we’ve played throughout this entire playoff series of just never quitting. We could have been down and out after their second goal, and all playoff long, and we just never quit in those moments.”
Montréal forward Abby Roque on her winning goal: “It was definitely a crazy sequence of events. When Stace (Laura Stacey) goes down, I think everybody knew we wanted to put our best foot forward for her. Obviously, it was a hero move by her to just be out there when we’re coming back out skating laps. We wanted to at least try to score those last couple seconds, and we got it done. And then right out of the overtime, Maggie (Flaherty) made a great play to me to try to tip it back door and somehow hit my face and in. I’ll take it.”
NOTABLES
Montréal is the first team to beat Ottawa in eight overtime games this season, with the Charge previously winning a record six overtime games during the regular season and once so far in playoffs. The Victoire are now 3-4 and the Charge are 2-5 all-time in overtime games in the playoffs. The last five games of the PWHL Walter Cup Finals have extended beyond regulation.
Tonight marked the 12th one-goal playoff game in team history for both Ottawa and Montréal, one shy of Minnesota (13) for the most one-goal playoff games all-time in PWHL history.
The two teams combined to score five goals in the contest after their regular-season series averaged a combined 3.25 goals per game, tied for the lowest-scoring matchup in the league in 2025-26 alongside Boston-New York and Boston-Toronto.
Tonight snapped a streak of ten straight games between the two teams in which the team scoring the first goal of the game came out victorious: All four meetings this season, all four games in last year’s playoff series, and the final two regular-season matchups of 2024-25.
The Charge scored the game’s first goal for the fifth straight playoff game, becoming the first team in PWHL history to open the scoring in each of its first five games of a single postseason. Ottawa’s streak ties the second-longest run in league history, matching the five straight games in which they scored first during the 2025 playoffs (May 13-25), trailing only Minnesota’s six-game streak from May 13-24, 2024.
Montréal was 1-3-1-4 (.370) in the regular season when allowing the first goal, which was the best record in the league, and are now 2-1 in the playoffs in such games.
The Victoire’s third-period goals were the first the Charge have allowed outside the second period this postseason.
Montréal has been held scoreless through two periods in three of six playoff games but have won two of those contests. They had six such games during the regular season and won four of them (3-1-0-2). Seven of the nine games have come since Mar. 28.
Ottawa lost for the first time in 12 games this season when leading after two periods. Their 10 wins and no losses during the regular season was the best record in such games, with Vancouver’s eight wins and no losses representing the only other undefeated team.
In all-time PWHL playoff history, the Game 1 winner is 2-6 in series outcomes.
Abby Roque scored her first two career playoff goals and now has five points through six postseason games, tied for third in playoff scoring. She joins Laura Stacey as the only Montréal players to record a multi-goal game in playoff history. The forward also extended her point streak against Ottawa to eight games, dating back to Jan. 27, 2025, as a member of New York, while her seven career goals against the Charge are her most against any PWHL opponent.
Rebecca Leslie recorded her fourth career multi-goal game — all coming this season — and scored in back-to-back games for the third time in 2025-26. After entering the playoffs with three career postseason goals in 13 games, the forward now has three goals in this year’s playoffs alone, all in her last two games. Her five postseason points (3G, 2A) are tied for third in the league, while her three goals are tied with Stacey for second.
Nicole Gosling scored her first career playoff goal after recording two assists in the opening round against Minnesota. Her game-tying tally, scored with just 2.1 seconds remaining, was the latest regulation goal in PWHL playoff history, and her three points now lead all rookies in the 2026 postseason.
Stacey assisted on both of Roque’s goals for her second multi-point game of the postseason and now has six points (3G, 3A), tied with Marie-Philip Poulin for the playoff scoring lead. Prior to the 2026 playoffs, the forward had two points (1G, 1A) in seven career playoff games.
Poulin picked up her league leading fourth assist of the playoffs, giving her 10 points in 13 career postseason games, and extending her point streak to seven straight games at Place Bell. The Victoire captain also went 12-for-18 (66.7%) at the faceoff dot, leading all Montréal skaters and setting her highest mark of the postseason.
Sarah Wozniewicz hit the scoresheet for a second straight game, her first career postseason assist, and now has two points this postseason, tied for second among all rookies in scoring.
Nadia Mattivi made her postseason debut after signing a 10-day contract ahead of tonight’s contest and notched her first career PWHL point with the primary assist on Roque’s first goal. The defender played six regular-season games with Montréal this season after joining the PWHL on March 24 after captaining Team Italy at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Maureen Murphy recorded her first assist of the 2026 postseason and now has two points through six playoff games. The forward has recorded multiple points in each of Montréal’s three postseason runs and now has seven career playoff points (4G, 3A) in 13 games.
Maggie Flaherty set a new career postseason high with her second point of the 2026 playoffs (1G, 1A). The two-time Walter Cup champion entered this postseason with one point in 16 career playoff games, recorded during Minnesota’s 2024 playoff run.
Ann-Renée Desbiens has allowed two or fewer goals against in five straight games after surrendering five goals in Game 1 of the semifinals. She leads all goaltenders this postseason with a 1.62 goals-against average while also leading the league in minutes played (407:27) and shots faced (176) through six games.
Gwyneth Philips saw her three-game postseason win streak come to an end but continues to lead all playoff goaltenders with a .940 save percentage. Tonight’s 2.88 goals-against average marked the highest single-game figure of her 13-game postseason career.
Brianne Jenner led all skaters with a 75% success rate at the dot, her best winning percentage this postseason. She has now had a faceoff winning percentage of 61.5% or above in three straight games and has been above 52% in all five of her postseason games this season.
Fanuza Kadirova tied a season high with five shots on goal for the Charge, sharing the game’s lead in the category with Leslie and Poulin.
THREE STARS
1. Abby Roque (MTL) 2G
2. Laura Stacey (MTL) 2A
3. Rebecca Leslie (OTT) 2G
NEXT GAME
Game 2: Saturday, May 16 at Montréal at 2 p.m. ET