After the exciting first game of their Walter Cup Semi-Final Series, PWHL Montreal and PWHL Boston geared up for a rematch at Place Bell. Kessel and Cheverie will go with their same starting goalies from game one with Aerin Frankel and Ann-Renee Desbiens respectively. The only notable line-up notes are that Jamie Lee Rattray would miss her second consecutive game due to injury, and Sarah Lefort (Who consequently inflicted the injury) would return to Montreal from suspension. Let’s dive in.

The first period was a continuation of the playing style of the third period of game one. In the opening four minutes, both teams were able to make impressive skill plays in transition that led to a handful of good looks. At 4:25, Laura Stacey had her first good look against Frankel after a bad defensive turnover by Boston, but she was unable to finish the look. After this chance, Boston’s bottom-six picked up where they left on in game one by creating great looks in tight against Montreal. Less than two minutes later, Amanda Pelkey would strike on a weird shot from below the goal line. Just before the halfway point in the period, Stacey would get another quality look, but Frankel stood tall again. The next eight minutes of play had fantastic pace where both teams had several good looks. Just before the end of the period, Theresa Schafzahl had a great look from in tight, but Desbiens came up big.

The second period opened a great start for Montreal. Keller would take an ill-advised roughing call thirty seconds into the period to further Montreal’s momentum. Within the opening 75 seconds of the powerplay, Frankel had two huge saves on Maureen Murphy and Marie-Philip Poulin respectively before O’Neill would get the scored knotted at one. The next ten-plus minutes of the period were tightly checked like the first two periods of game one, with the momentum being neutral until just past the 14-minute mark in the period, where Montreal would begin to take control of play. At the 16-minute mark, Frankel would make another pair of massive saves through traffic to keep the game tied. Both teams saw some back and forth looks in the final minutes of the period, but neither team could get an edge in the goal column. Lexie Adzija would be called for trip at the end of the period to queue up Montreal on the powerplay. Also, of note in the momentum swing is that due to an upper-body injury was absent from the Boston bench for an extended amount of time in the period.

The final frame of regulation was dominated by Montreal after some early hiccups. Boston survived the Penalty Kill on the Adzija trip from the last period. The following six minutes were back and forth with a lot of good neutral zone checking to prevent any impactful chances. At around the 10-minute mark, Montreal took control of the action, but Frankel came up big again. Despite three huge scoring chances from the mid-point of the period to the eighteenth minute, Frankel gave the Montreal stars nothing. In the final minute, a complex play unfolded on the stick of Melanie Daoust in the crease, but a whistle sounded before O’Neill could get the puck across the goal line, much to the chagrin of the Place Bell crowd. In the closing thirty seconds, neither team could beat the opposing goal, and we are back to overtime.

The first overtime period was one rife with controversy and high danger chances. Early in the period. Stacey had a good look against Frankel but hit the cross bar. Just past the five-minute mark Keller had a good look for Boston, but Desbiens came up big. At the 6:20 mark, Adzija received a 5-minute major and game misconduct to an incidental check to the head of Stacey. At the 9:46 mark, Frankel made a big save on Tabin. Boston successfully killed off the major penalty. At the 15:53 mark, Desbiens made another big save against Schafzahl. Following a delay of game call on Keller, Frankel came up big for another two stops against O’Neill and Grant-Mentis. Immediately after that big save, Knight had a tremendous shot block to keep the game even.

The second overtime period was a result of fatigue for both sides. Desbiens made some huge saves against Morin and Knight within the first three minutes of the period. Just past that mark Desbiens had big saves against Digirolamo and Shirley. Not long after, Frankel would be called upon with chances from Stacey. The pace of play was grinding down to molasses, but Gigi Marvin had a great look against Desbiens with thirty-five seconds remaining in the period. The officials verified that the puck did not cross the goal line.            

The third period was sluggish until Taylor Wenzckowski broke the tie. Simple recap from the game. Both teams were fantastic. Both goals were incredible. Boston using their 4^th line and Montreal not using theirs was a key difference maker in the outcome of the game. Cheverie continues to gamble on her top-6 in long OT games instead of resting them, and it seems to be impacting them as the series on going on.