PWHL Montreal entered the State of Hockey and squeaked out a 2-1 win over Minnesota, leapfrogging them for first in the PWHL.
A season-high 46 shots wasn’t enough for Minnesota as Montreal’s Elaine Chuli stole the show. She stopped 45 shots en route to her second win of the season, while Tereza Vanišová got two points and netted her first to help stifle the Minnesota fans at Xcel Energy Center Wednesday night.
Montreal opened the scoring four minutes in. Vanišová sent a pass to Laura Stacey just above the right hash marks. Stacey unleashed a one-timer, and the puck deflected off of Taylor Heise’s stick in front and fluttered past Nicole Hensley. Stacey’s flukey third goal of the season gave her team an early 1-0 lead.
Minnesota picked up steam as the period progressed. Their top line of Heise, Grace Zumwinkle, and Denisa Křížová created scoring chances, one of which resulted in Zumwinkle ringing a one-timer off the post. Abby Boreen, who made her PWHL debut after signing a 10-day contract off Minnesota’s reserve list also had a couple notable opportunities. The home team, however, went to the first intermission trailing 1-0.