Victoire Vibe Vol. 2.7

An up and down Victoire team had a confusing pair of games to round off March before the international break. It feels like a long time ago, so as a reminder, the team earned a scoresheet victory on the road against the Frost and followed it up with a 1-0 loss at home against the bottom team in the league. Then, nine players went to Worlds and competed representing their countries. What was the problem with the Victoire, and what does the break in play mean to their chances at clinching the regular season championship?

What’s not working?

Depth scoring is the technical term, but prior to the break, really the Victoire’s issue was scoring from the bottom nine in general. In the month of March (and April 1), Marie-Philip Poulin (5G, 2A), Laura Stacey (3G, 6A), and the defense (6G, 9A) carried Montréal on the scoresheet. Jennifer Gardiner (3A) was the only other forward with more than two points across nine games. Kati Tabin (3G, 1A) had more goals than the entire forward group, minus Stacey and Poulin.

The Victoire simply cannot keep going like this. They collected 11 of a possible 27 points in March (and April 1) on a single regulation win, three regulation losses, three overtime or shootout wins, and two OT/SO losses. While Montréal was the only team to have a playoff spot locked down as of the international break, they will likely lose the top spot in the standings to Toronto if they continue splitting games at the pace they were before the break. And with the loss of first place, they would also lose the ability to pick their own destiny in the first round of the Walter Cup Playoffs.

At Minnesota, the Victoire found themselves unable to overcome the Frost’s fast and physical forecheck. They won 4-1, true. But those goals came as a Poulin breakaway, a 5-on-3, and both Poulin and Stacey getting to the front of the net. A goal by Catherine Dubois was waved off, and Kristin O’Neill looked the best she had in a while, but otherwise, there wasn’t a lot to celebrate against a Frost team that has had the Victoire’s number all season.

Against the Sirens, the team looked somewhat more cohesive, but failed to put shots on net and failed to score a goal. A two-game suspension for Tabin for head contact came out of that game as well, to add insult to injury.

What is working?

What is working for this team is that they got a nice long breather, in a way: time away from the feeling that something’s not clicking. While practices continued in Montréal, nine members of the team went to Czechia, along with head coach Kori Cheverie, to compete at Worlds. Seven of them returned with medals. 

There has to be an immense amount of momentum from Worlds working in this team’s favor. Despite Canada’s overtime loss to the US in the gold medal game, the ‘Victoire line' of Pouling, Gardiner, and Stacey dominated scoring. Poulin was named the tournament’s Top Forward and MVP with 12 points in seven games, and Gardiner led the tournament with six goals. This line has been cooking in Montréal, they cooked in České Budějovice, and there’s no indication they’ll stop cooking anytime soon.

Kristin O’Neill had one point in 20 games prior to Worlds, but in České Budějovice, she scored two goals and made three assists in seven games. She was also a +8, in sharp contrast to her league-worst -12 with Montréal. Her time with the national team should restore some confidence and help her return to the form we’ve seen her play with in the past. A good sign? Last year, O’Neill had five points in 18 games prior to Worlds, and four points in five games afterwards. We may see history repeat itself.

Ann-Renee Desbiens officially earned the title of winningest goaltender in WWC history, passing the Swiss icon Florence Schelling and edging out the Boston Fleet’s Klára Peslarová. Although she was on LTIR at the close of PWHL play, she eased into the international tournament and earned two wins and two losses, both against the US. She should be back on form to close out the PWHL regular season.

Erin Ambrose saw a slight decrease from her 21:30 minute average ice time with Montréal, clocking 18:21 per game for Team Canada. She earned three points, including a goal in the semifinal game against Finland, and served as backup goaltender against the Czechs:

The Victoire's other workhorse defender carried a lighter load in Czechia. Used to skating 21:43 with Montréal, Cayla Barnes averaged only 15:41 for Team USA. She looked as good in red, white, and blue as she has all season in bleu, blanc et rouge, so we can expect a continuation of her stellar play.

Anna Wilgren got something closer to a working vacation. She skated in only two games for Team USA and averaged 10:14, which probably makes her assist pop in terms of points per 60. I hope the gold medal is a good consolation for her reduction in ice time. At the very least, she should be well-rested and ready to shoulder more TOI than usual in the next two games.

Another player who’ll be moving up the lineup imminently is Dominika Lásková. After a year and a half on LTIR, she returned to play in three games for the Victoire in March, and then was a healthy scratch for three weeks before the international break. For Czechia, Lásková averaged 16:48 minutes of ice time. With Kati Tabin suspended for the next two games, the Victoire should be very happy that Lásková isn’t ice cold coming in for the final few games of the season.

The Victoire’s only Swedish player since the trade of Anna Kjellbin to Toronto, Lina Ljungblom centered the second line for her home country and finished the tournament with two goals and an assist. 

Vibe check

Although it wasn’t showing on the scoresheet, there was a sense in Montréal's last few games that things were starting to come together in the bottom nine. About a week before the break, head coach Kori Cheverie said that she wasn’t thrilled about the timing and that she wanted the team to keep working to get to some breakthroughs.

After the Victoire lost 1-0 to New York, Cheverie was asked about the vibe in the locker room, considering the rough stretch of games:

"My vibe in the locker room is, I celebrated so many positive things… The vibe in the room? Gardiner misses an empty net on a six-on-five? We lift her up. We don't take her down. Our PK was amazing. Chuli was amazing. Our power play had great looks. That's what we're celebrating in the room. We're not down on ourselves. Because that room is really really special. And there's really great things that are happening in that dressing room. So no, the vibe is not where it is. Do I hate to lose? A hundred percent I hate to lose. So there's where my mood is at right now. But in terms of being proud of that team, it's through the roof.”

Cheverie noted that there was a lot of negativity coming from outside the team, and particularly from the media, which players like Erin Ambrose agreed with after the Sirens game.

While I can’t imagine the media reaction being sunshine and roses after Canada’s gold medal game loss, hopefully the international break has been a good break for everyone, and we can all return to league play refreshed and ready to celebrate more positive things.

What’s next?

The Victoire will visit Ottawa for a matinee on Saturday, then host Boston at Place Bell on Monday. Kati Tabin will be eligible to return for Montréal's final game of the regular season, a 2pm Saturday start in New Jersey against the Sirens.

Right now, Ottawa is in a playoff spot. They have a single point on the Minnesota Frost, and they will be fighting for 60 minutes or more to keep that lead.

The Fleet need to win games and they need Toronto to lose games in order to have a chance at home ice in round one.

Depending on the results of their games against Minnesota and Toronto, the Sirens could have something to fight for in their regular season finale. If they manage to take points away from those two games, they could still be in the running for a playoff spot when they face Montréal. Or, if they’ve been eliminated, they may be fighting for Gold Points to secure their chance at the first overall pick in the 2025 Draft. Regardless of their place in the standings, they took down Montréal, the league’s top team, before the break. They will definitely be fighting for pride.