montrealgazette.com
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The 8,018 fans at Place Bell in Laval on Ann-Renée Desbiens bobblehead night Wednesday were not disappointed, as the Victoire goaltender shut out the Toronto Sceptres 3-0 for her ninth win of the season.
Desbiens, who can shift her focus to backstopping Team Canada at the Olympics, stopped 22 Sceptres shots, while Raygan Kirk saved 28 of 31 for Toronto.
Montreal has won three straight to sit third in the Professional Women’s Hockey League standings with a 10-5 record, one point behind the Minnesota Frost, who also won Wednesday, and three points behind league leader Boston, which has a game in hand.
Toronto is seventh in the eight-team league, with a 5-11 record.
Natalie Mlynkova, who is also going to the Olympics but with the Czech team, opened the scoring at 16:33 of the first period, backhanding a shot from the slot.
The Victoire added two power-play goals off rebounds in the second period, from Marie-Philip Poulin at 14:25 and Shiann Darkangelo at 18:06.
Victoire Cam édition Bobblehead 🤪 pic.twitter.com/WKlbvAWR2F— Victoire de Montréal (@PWHL_Montreal) January 29, 2026
“I’m really satisfied with our defensive game,” Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie said after the match. “I think leading the league in the least amount of goals against is something that we can be proud of, but probably something that not everybody would talk about. So that has been really a great spot for us, along with the depth. Being able to be hard to play against has been great. Our penalty kill has been great, and our power play has been going up and up. So overall, I’m pretty satisfied with the first 15 games.”
Montreal is undefeated at Place Bell this season, its only home loss coming against the Sceptres at the Bell Centre on Dec. 27. Toronto has lost seven of its eight games since then.
The Olympic women’s hockey tournament runs Feb. 5 to 19, and nine Victoire players will be competing for five countries, including
five for Canada
.
Montreal returns to PWHL play Feb. 26 in New York, then hosts the Minnesota Frost March 1 in Laval.
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