Poulin’s hat trick sparks Montreal past New York, 5-2
New York (AP) — Marie-Phillip Poulin scored a hat trick and Elaine Chuli earned a win in her first game in goal as Montreal beat New York 5-2 Wednesday in its debut at UBS Arena at Belmont Park.
Montreal bounced back from being shutout at Minnesota to post the most goals scored in a game by a Professional Women’s Hockey League club and Poulin, widely considered the best women’s hockey player of all-time, collected the league’s second three-goal game.
Called “Captain Clutch” by her Canadian teammates because she scored the game-winning goal in three of the four Olympics in which she played (2010, 2014, 2022), Poulin got Montreal’s first goal midway through the first period, then finished a breakaway by punching a pass from Maureen Murphy past the right skate of New York goalkeeper Corinne Schroeder. She capped the scoring by firing a shot from center ice into an open New York net.
Catherine Dubois scored a second-period goal for Montreal (2-1) and Kennedy Marchment added an insurance goal with five minutes left in the third period.
Chuli had 30 saves on 32 shots from New York.
Schroeder, who earned a shutout in the opener at Toronto, had 30 saves on 35 Montreal shots.
New York got a first-period goal from Jessie Eldridge and Ella Shelton scored 27 seconds into the third period on an assist from Abby Roque.
New York (1-2) earned a shutout win over Toronto in the new league’s first game on New Year’s Day, but now lost a game at each of its two home game arenas, falling to Toronto at Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut on Friday.
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AP hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/hockey