PWHL Minnesota suffers narrow loss to Montreal
Sarah Lefort scored the go-ahead goal 16 minutes, 6 seconds into the second period and PWHL Minnesota’s late push with an extra skater came up short in a 2-1 loss Sunday in Laval, Quebec, in front of an announced crowd of 10,172.
Claire Dalton’s power-play goal 3 minutes, 41 seconds into the first period put Montreal on the scoreboard first, but Kendall Coyne Schofield knotted the game at 1-1 with a late first-period goal for Minnesota 15 minutes, 1 second later. It remained a 1-1 tie until Lefort’s second-period goal.
Minnesota couldn’t come up with the equalizer and Montreal couldn’t add onto its lead in the third period as Minnesota’s Maddie Rooney and Montreal’s Elaine Chuli stopped all of the few attempts that made it on goal. Rooney stopped 18 of 20 shots for Minnesota, while Chuli had 21 saves on 22 shots for Montreal.
Minnesota pulled Rooney late in the third period in hopes of finding an equalizing goal, and Minnesota got some good looks on the Montreal net, but each attempt was turned away by Chuli, who made needed saves when it counted.
With one final chance to tie the game in the waning seconds of the third period, Minnesota appeared to either think a whistle was blown or there was some confusion with the clock. Time ran out before Minnesota could get off another good look.
Minnesota returns to action next Sunday when it faces Boston at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. Puck drop is slated for 3 p.m.
