Roque's Hot, Power Play's Cold: 4 Takeaways From the Montréal Victoire's 2-1 Loss to the Sceptres

MONTRÉAL — The Montréal Victoire fell 2-1 to the Toronto Sceptres on Saturday afternoon in their third appearance at the Bell Centre. It was a game that evoked memories of past bad habits and issues they'd like to avoid this season, as they dropped a second consecutive game by the same scoreline.

Here are four takeaways from Saturday's showdown:

Montréal's top heavy offence is starting to feel familiar

For a second straight game, the Victoire were held to just one goal, and for a second straight game, that goal came from Abby Roque on the top line alongside Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey (though Kaitlin Willoughby had the primary assist Saturday, jumping on for Stacey). It's a trio that's had success so far, replicating the magic of Jenn Gardiner playing with Poulin and Stacey last season.

The problem with that top line last year came when it was depended on for all the team's offence, as Montréal's second to fourth lines failed to produce consistently. Now facing a similar situation, it's hard not to have flashbacks. For the moment, coach Kori Cheverie seems committed to keeping the same lines, but she confirmed postgame that lineup changes will have to happen with the upcoming return of Lina Ljungblom and Jade Downie-Landry. While there's no exact timeline for their return, both are back practicing with the team and have the potential to provide an offensive spark.

What's going to fix Montréal's power play?

Montréal's power play failed to score on Saturday, with the team now going 0-for-13 over their last four games. The top unit of Roque, Stacey, Poulin, Natálie Mlýnková, and Erin Ambrose is getting looks, but still having trouble burying them. Speaking postgame, Cheverie reaffirmed her faith in the team's power play, saying, "I'm confident with the players we have on the units right now, and it's just going to be a matter of time." That being said, she added that they will be putting extra work into the power play over the coming weeks, now that they have a more normal schedule.

"I think we can afford to shoot more on our power play, that's for sure," Cheverie said. "I like the IQ that we're seeing right now. Certainly want to capitalize on the chances that you do have, especially the 4-on-3, so we'll continue to dive into that and continue to get more touches on that."

Gritty goals get you in games

Roque found Montréal's sole marker of the night in the second period, falling to her knees and batting in a puck fed from Willoughby. It's the kind of gritty goal coach Kori Cheverie put focus on at the team's practice on Friday, with Roque noting postgame how those types of goals are necessary when trying to beat a tough goalie.

"It was a great play by Willoughby to get that to my stick, just to tip it in," Roque said postgame. "Out of all the shots I had today, that one going in was something. But it's just a great play from Willoughby to look for sticks in front. When a goalie's playing hot, that's just kinda what you want to do, try to get tips, try to get bodies in front, and that's kinda what worked."

As Montréal looks to spark their power play and get their goalscoring up, the ability to score those messy goals will be key.

Time to reset

There's been a lot of talk about the Victoire's travel schedule over the past few weeks, which saw a number of players in Edmonton for the Rivalry Series finale, followed by a Takeover Tour game in Halifax, a West Coast road trip to Vancouver and Seattle, then back home for the Christmas break before going right into the game at the Bell Centre. Whew.

Naturally, this has meant a convoluted scheduled that didn't facilitate consistent full team practices, settling for tune-ups the day before games. Speaking postgame, Laura Stacey shared what the next week has in store as they look to benefit from some extra time on the ice.

"I think we're all excited to take care of our bodies, get some sleep, get back on that Eastern time zone here, and honestly get back to work," Stacey said. "I think with all that travel with those games, we haven't been practicing that much. And I think for us as a group, bearing down on those chances, finding a way to score, working on the power play, those are all things we can do in practice. I think for us as a group we are excited about that. We know we have some learning, we know we have some growing to do, and we have some time to do it right here."

The Victoire now have a few days at home before they travel to Newark to face the New York Sirens on Jan. 2.