Fleet rallies from 3-0 deficit to earn 4-3 overtime PWHL victory over Victoire

By Canadian Press on March 15, 2026.

LAVAL — In terms of heartbreaking losses to the Boston Fleet, the Montreal Victoire has lived that before. But after losing 4-3 in overtime to the first-place Fleet despite taking a 3-0 lead into the third period, the Victoire is now looking at the positives.

Unlike 2024 when the team lost three straight playoff games in overtime to Boston (9-5-2-3) and saw its season end in a sweep, 11 regular-season games remain and Montreal intends to move forward.

“I’d much prefer this happening now than later on down the road, that’s for sure,” said Victoire head coach Kori Cheverie. “This is a great learning for us to have now instead of May.”

Added Montreal forward Laura Stacey: “The messaging, the feeling in the room is let it hurt tonight. We regroup, we have another game Thursday and we have to learn from it.”

And Stacey feels there’s plenty Montreal (9-4-1-5) can take away from the game.

“There’s a lot to learn, but there’s also some really great things to be proud of,” she said. “We’re up 3-0 against the first-place team in the league.

“Our power play is clicking; our penalty kill killed a five-minute major in the third period. The physicality, the first 48 minutes of the game, we owned it. The shots on goal. Frankel is a great goaltender, to get three on her that’s something to be proud of.”

Stacey’s words have weight to them. With Montreal defender Erin Ambrose on long-term injured reserve and captain Marie-Philip Poulin leaving the game in the first period, Stacey is the only member of the team’s usual leadership group remaining.

With just over three minutes remaining in the first and Montreal on the power play, Poulin collided with Boston forward Shay Maloney at the side boards. Instantly she started favouring her right leg.

It was the same leg she injured against Czechia at the Winter Olympics on Feb. 9. It forced her to miss two games at the Olympics, and Montreal’s first PWHL contest following the Olympic break.

This was Montreal’s fourth game after the Olympics.

“We’ve been batting some adversity here, and I think with that being said it’s pretty awesome to see how this team’s coming together, how everybody’s picking up the pieces,” Stacey said. “Nobody’s going to replace No. 29 out there, and we all know that.

“But what we can do is every little thing we possibly can to try and win it as a team together. When your captain goes down, to see the way the group responded, to see that feeling in the locker room of ‘We got this,’ I think that’s what you want to feel, that your team not only wants to lift her up, but they want to do it for her.”

Abby Roque, who had a goal and two assists in the game, was asked to step up in Poulin’s absence. She moved to centre on the team’s top line, and in the third period when the team was down two defenders because of penalties, she even was asked to play defence.

“You go back to the drawing board,” Roque said. “I like to watch video the same night if I can get my hands on it … see what I did right, see what I did wrong.

“As a team we like to do it as quickly as possible because you do have to learn from games like this, but you also have to let go and think of the positives, and you look at both of those and take the good, try to throw away the bad and we have quick turnaround to play Thursday.”

‘NEVER A DOUBT’

Boston head coach Kris Sparre is in his first season coaching the Fleet in the PWHL. But he has full confidence in his team, which moved three points ahead of Montreal atop the standings despite trailing 3-0 after 40 minutes.

“You come into a building like this that’s loud, and you have a team sitting here waiting for you for 11 days, it’s a tough one to battle back from,” he said. “Going into the third period, really, there was never a doubt.

“We said ‘let’s get one and see what happens. We got the first one relatively early, and then our bench took over from there.”