Lina Ljungblom scored in the sixth round of the shootout as the Montreal Victoire defeated the Seattle Torrent 2-1 to finish atop the PWHL standings and clinch the top seed on Saturday night.

Ann-Renée Desbiens made five saves on six shots in the shootout, and 23 saves during play to secure the win.

That means Montreal will select their first round opponent on Sunday between the third-seed Minnesota Frost and fourth-seed Ottawa Charge. Those are the same two teams they could have chosen to play last year, when they chose Ottawa. They lost the series in four games.

Montreal has yet to win a playoff series, going 1-6 in their seven games over two years.

The real news heading into the regular season finale was that the team was fully healthy and available for only the sixth time of the season in their 30th game. Marie-Philip Poulin and Maureen Murphy were both activated from long-term injured reserve to get a game in before their semi-final series will get underway on May 2.

“It was physical, for sure,” said Montreal forward Abby Roque. “I think it was a good tune up. It was nice to have most of our lineup in, not the full thing, but we obviously got some players back, and I’m glad they got a game in before the playoffs, and they looked great, so I was really happy for them.” 

Roque opened the scoring 7:37 into the second period on a five-on-three advantage. She took the puck at the top of the slot and fired a wrist shot past Corinne Schroeder. Nicole Gosling got the primary assist to extend her point streak to six games, and Poulin picked up an assist in her return to play.

Schroeder made 36 saves for Seattle.

Seattle tied the game on a power play of their own with 9:49 remaining in regulation. Dara Greig took two back-to-back minor penalties and on the second, Alex Carpenter potted a rebound off of a Theresa Schafzahl shot and beat a sprawling Desbiens.

“Going all the way to the very end on the last day, I think it speaks to the quality of every single team in this league,” said Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie. “I really liked the response from our group putting more shifts together in the offensive zone after that goal against. I thought there were chances for us to win all the way up until the final buzzer in regulation. But we’re really happy with what we were able to come away with.” 

While Montreal was playing for top spot in the league, the Torrent were playing for the top pick in the 2026 PWHL Draft. With the loss, it will be the Vancouver Goldeneyes who will select first. The rest of the draft order has yet to be determined as rumoured expansion is looming. Vancouver and Seattle both finished with five “Gold” points (points accumulated after elimination) but Vancouver had more wins which is the first tie-breaker.

Desbiens finished the season tied for first (with Aerin Frankel) with 19 wins on the season. She led the league in goals against average (1.11) and save percentage (.955) besting Frankel in both categories. Frankel had eight shutouts, while Desbiens finished the season with seven.

Final Standings

TEAM
GP
GR
RW
OW
SW
OL
RL
PTS
GF
GA
MAX PTS
MAGIC
TRAGIC
#1
HOME
GOLD
PT %
GF/G
GA/G

MTL
30
0
16
3
3
2
6
62
78
41
62
X
–
Z
Y
–
0.689
2.60
1.37

BOS
30
0
16
2
3
4
5
62
74
45
62
X
–
–
Y
–
0.689
2.47
1.50

MIN
30
0
13
3
0
5
9
50
92
73
50
X
–
–
–
–
0.556
3.07
2.43

OTT
30
0
9
6
2
1
12
44
71
73
44
X
–
–
–
–
0.489
2.37
2.43

TOR
30
0
10
1
0
6
13
38
51
72
38
–
E
–
–
–
0.422
1.70
2.40

VAN
30
0
9
3
0
4
14
37
68
81
37
–
E
–
–
5
0.411
2.27
2.70

NY
30
0
9
2
1
3
15
36
63
83
36
–
E
–
–
0
0.400
2.10
2.77

SEA
30
0
8
0
1
5
16
31
67
89
31
–
E
–
–
5
0.344
2.23
2.97

Highlights