First-place Victoire make PWHL history with 10th home win of season

Victoire remain on top out of PWHL standings with win o'er violent stream

The Montreal Victoire persist in to dominate on home ice in the Professional Women's Hockey League.

Montreal's 4-1 win over the Seattle Torrent on Tuesday was the Victoire's 10th this season at Place Bell, which is their primary home venue.

Montreal became the first PWHL team to win 10 games in a single venue in one season.

The Victoire were living up to their name with a 10-1-0 home record, with just one of the wins outside of regulation.

Montreal ranked first in the eight-team standings while duelling the Boston Fleet for the top of the table.

Boston thumped the Vancouver Goldeneyes 5-1 in a neutral-site game in Edmonton on Tuesday to trail the Victoire by a point.

Montreal, Boston and the Minnesota Frost have playoff berths locked in. The fourth and final playoff spot was still up for grabs.

The Victoire continue their pursuit of home-ice advantage in the first round of playoffs.

"It's crucial," said Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie. "We certainly talk about it as a staff. It's not something that we talk about with the girls.

"They understand the magnitude of it, especially with having an experienced team that we do. That's what we're pushing towards."

Place Bell is loud and known for its DJ sets at intermission that make it feel more of a club than an arena.

A PWHL player's poll in The Athletic featured comments from opposing players stating it was too loud or felt like an EDM (electronic dance music) concert.

Seattle forward Mikyla Grant-Mentis, who played parts of two seasons in Montreal, played her first game at the arena since leaving the team in free agency last summer.

"I love Montreal," she said. "The fans, they're one of a kind, and it's nice to listen to the music that really buzzes through you the entire time."

It's an atmosphere the home players feed off of.

"Every single night here, we all talk about it at pre-game skate like we're back home, we can't wait to go to Place Bell," said Victoire forward Laura Stacey. "Every player who joins the organization knows that when you get to play here, it's really something special."

The Victoire are 22-5-1 in the regular season all-time at Place Bell, but have won only one of the four playoff games in the arena.

They seek to bring a championship, the Walter Cup, to Montreal for the first time after two straight years of Minnesota hoisting the trophy.

Montreal extended its streak of games of at least one point to 14, with 36 out of a possible 42 points compiled. That league-record streak has spanned over half of their 26 games this season.

Making the run even more impressive is that captain Marie-Philip Poulin, currently on long-term injured reserve, has missed eight games.

Theresa Schafzahl scored and Hannah Murphy made 21 saves for the Torrent.

Seattle needs to win Wednesday in Ottawa to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.

Mlynkova opened the scoring at 2:28 of the second period when Alexandra Labelle kicked the puck toward her at the side of the net, and Mlynkova was able to put it past Murphy for her fifth of the season.

The Victoire doubled their lead 75 seconds later on the power play when Ljungblom fed Stacey on a two-on-one. Stacey tipped the puck past Murphy for her seventh goal of the season.

Seattle scored its lone goal at 9:53 of the second period. After Desbiens made the initial save on a Torrent two-on-one, Schafzahl tapped the loose puck in the crease by Desbiens for her fourth this season.

Montreal regained the two-goal advantage at 11:55 when Irving one-timed a backhand pass from Maggie Flaherty from behind the net.

Darkangelo added an empty-net goal.

The Boston Fleet capped the Professional Women's Hockey League's 16-game Takeover Tour with a 5-1 win over the Vancouver Goldeneyes in Edmonton.

Boston (14-5-2-4) extended its win streak to five straight and was just two points back of the Montreal Victoire on top of the standings.

The Fleet, who along with Montreal and the Minnesota Frost were already playoff-bound, have four games remaining in the regular season.

Vancouver (7-1-4-14) lost its third in a row.

Jessie Eldridge scored twice for Boston with captain Megan Keller, Susanna Tapani and Jamie Lee Rattray each contributing a goal to the victory.

Aerin Frankel stopped 28 of 29 shots in Boston's net for a 17th win this season, which tied her for the league lead with Montreal's Renee Desbiens.

Eldridge scores twice leading the Fleet to a dominant win over Goldeneyes

Boston's special teams played a significant role Tuesday. Keller scored short-handed and Eldridge scored a power-play goal for her second of the game en route to a 3-0 lead in the second period.

Defender Sophie Jaques scored Vancouver's lone goal early in the third.

Goldeneyes starting goalie Emerance Maschmeyer allowed five goals on 23 shots over two periods. Kristen Campbell stopped all six shots she faced in the third.

The PWHL brought a neutral-site game to Edmonton for a third time, which fuelled speculation the city is an option for league expansion next season.

The first Takeover game last season drew 17,518 fans to Rogers Place. Attendance for the second Dec. 27 was 10,264 and Tuesday's was an announced 10,794.

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