{"id":581331,"date":"2026-04-04T08:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T08:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/581331\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T08:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T08:15:12","slug":"abstreiter-leads-montreal-to-3-0-win-over-ottawa-in-front-of-17114-at-canadian-tire-centre-pwhl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/581331\/","title":{"rendered":"ABSTREITER LEADS MONTR\u00c9AL TO 3-0 WIN OVER OTTAWA IN FRONT OF 17,114 AT CANADIAN TIRE CENTRE | PWHL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Highlights and Press Conferences available on\u00a0Ottawa<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Montr\u00e9al<\/a>\u00a0YouTube channels\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

KANATA, ON\u00a0(April 3, 2026) \u2013 Sandra Abstreiter backstopped the Montr\u00e9al Victoire to a 3-0 win over host Ottawa Charge in front of 17,114 fans at Canadian Tire Centre on Friday night, setting a Charge attendance record for largest home crowd in team history. Abstreiter shined in net with a 39-save performance and became the first Victoire goaltender in team history to record an assist, while Gwyneth Philips did all she could by saving 23 of 25 shots on goal. The first period was a scoreless, even affair, followed by three unanswered Montr\u00e9al goals for the team\u2019s 50th all-time regular season win. The Victoire broke the deadlock at 6:21 in the second period when Kaitlin Willoughby capitalized on a 2-on-1 rush, netting a top shelf shot over the blocker for her first PWHL goal and the 1-0 lead. Less than three minutes later, Abby Roque struck on the power play with a net front tap on a tic-tac-toe play, doubling the Montr\u00e9al lead to 2-0 to wrap up the middle frame. Willoughby closed out a career-best game with her second goal, an empty-netter, at 19:17 in the third period. With the victory, Montr\u00e9al leapfrogs Boston in the standings, now leading the Fleet \u2014 who have one game in hand \u2014 by one point. Ottawa remains in fifth place in the standings, just one point behind fourth-place Toronto. The Charge and the Sceptres each have five games remaining on the season, including two more head\u2011to\u2011head meetings.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both teams will host Seattle for their next matchups with Montr\u00e9al playing the Torrent Tuesday and Ottawa hosting on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

QUOTES\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Montr\u00e9al goaltender Sandra Abstreiter on recording a 39-save shutout: “It’s something special, obviously, but in general, it’s for sure a team shutout. There were a lot of [my teammates] that came and helped me out in the crease. There were a few dives across and they made a ton of saves too, and there was definitely a lot of blocked shots. So, they helped me out with every single one of the shots that the other team was attempting. So, it’s definitely a team victory.”<\/p>\n

Victoire forward Kaitlin Willoughby on scoring her first two career goals in the PWHL: \u201cIt’s not for lack of chances I’ve had throughout the years; but my teammates, my coaching staff, everyone has just continued to believe in me and keep my confidence up. The support I’ve had from my teammates just keeps me going. They’re like – \u2018it’s going to come Willow\u2019. And eventually it did, and now the floodgates might be open for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ottawa native Rebecca Leslie on playing in front of a record crowd for a women\u2019s professional hockey game in the nation\u2019s capital: \u201cIt’s a dream come true. It’s something I don’t take lightly. I feel honoured to be in this position to play for my hometown team, to play in front of 17,000 fans \u2014 and young girls who are aspiring to be PWHL players. It means a lot. I feel like I must pinch myself at moments to realize where I’m at and just how special it is. I don’t take it for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charge alternate captain Emily Clark on the frustration of not scoring against Sandra Abstreiter despite 39 shots: \u201cShe played amazingly. Hats off to her. Obviously, it\u2019s unfortunate for us, but I think we’re taking the positives out of this. For us, to put up that many shots and get that many grade A scoring chances, it’s too bad that we didn’t get the win tonight, but that’s probably one of our best 60-minute efforts we\u2019ve had all season. So, we\u2019ve got to build from it and play like that the next games.\u201d<\/p>\n

NOTABLES\u00a0<\/p>\n

Montr\u00e9al wins the season series over Ottawa 10-2 in points, outscoring the Charge 9-4 in four games. Ottawa was held to one goal or fewer in three of four meetings, with the lone exception coming March 22 in the PWHL Takeover Tour game in Winnipeg, a 2-1 overtime win for the Charge.<\/p>\n

Tonight\u2019s crowd of 17,114 at Canadian Tire Centre was the third-largest Canadian crowd in the PWHL this season and fifth-largest overall. The only larger Canadian crowds came at the Bell Center (18,107) and Scotiabank Arena (17,856). <\/p>\n

The crowd was the largest home crowd in Ottawa Charge history, surpassing the previous high of 11,065, set last season on Dec. 6, 2024, at Canadian Tire Centre, also against Montr\u00e9al. The Victoire remain undefeated in both contests with Ottawa at Canadian Tire Centre, having won the previous matchup, 2-1 in regulation.<\/p>\n

The Victoire now have points in 13 consecutive games, extending their record for the longest streak in league history. They also reached six-straight road games with points, tying the PWHL record set by Boston from Dec. 21 to Mar. 10 earlier this season. Since Jan. 21, the Victoire have earned 33 of a possible 39 points (9-2-2-0), also scoring at least three goals in 11 of those 13 games.<\/p>\n

Tonight\u2019s win was the 50th in regular season history for the Victoire \u2014 the first team in PWHL history to reach the milestone. The win also extends their league-leading total to 12 multi-goal wins and ties Boston in shutout wins (7). <\/p>\n

Ottawa loses consecutive games for the first time since losing four straight from Dec. 2 to 17, 2025.<\/p>\n

Ottawa suffered its third shutout loss of the season, equaling last year\u2019s team total in five fewer games. The Charge were also shut out 4-0 by New York on Nov. 22 and 5-0 in Minnesota on Mar. 18.<\/p>\n

Ottawa has scored two or fewer goals in 15 of their 25 games this season with just three wins on such occasions (1-2-1-11). The last Charge wins when scoring two or fewer came in consecutive games: a 2-1 overtime win over Montr\u00e9al on March 22 and a 2-0 shutout of Seattle on March 29.<\/p>\n

Sandra Abstreiter earned her first PWHL shutout and has consecutive wins for the first time in her career. Her 39 saves are the second-most ever in a PWHL shutout, trailing only Frankel’s 41 against Minnesota on Feb. 25, 2024, and are the most in a shutout this season. The goaltender also recorded her first career assist, on Willoughby\u2019s goal, becoming the second goaltender to record a helper this season, and the sixth all-time. Emerance Maschmeyer (VAN) is the lone PWHL netminder with multiple career assists, recording both helpers when she was a member of the Charge. <\/p>\n

Kaitlin Willoughby scored the first two goals of her PWHL career in her 75th career game. The third\u2011year forward has also set career highs this season with three assists and five points in 24 games. Entering 2025-26, Willoughby had two career assists \u2014 one with Montr\u00e9al in 2024-25 and one in the inaugural season with Toronto, the latter of which came against Ottawa. <\/p>\n

Abby Roque\u2019s goal ended a three-game pointless drought, and six straight games without a marker, setting a new career-high with her seventh tally on the season. The marker was her first on the power play this season. She has now surpassed all her previous career-highs in goals, assists, and points. The Victoire forward is one point away from becoming the 12th player in PWHL history to reach the 50-point milestone for her career. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Laura Stacey registered her first point against Ottawa this season with her league-leading 12th primary assist giving her points against all seven PWHL opponents in 25 games. She is one away from reaching 20 points in consecutive seasons for the first time \u2014 and from joining Montr\u00e9al captain Marie-Philip Poulin and Toronto\u2019s Daryl Watts as the only players in PWHL history to have reached the 60-point mark for their careers. The Victoire alternate captain recorded three shots on goal in the game to eclipse 100 in consecutive seasons. <\/p>\n

Roque (7G, 12A) and Stacey (6G, 13A) are now tied for fourth in league scoring with 19 points apiece, five behind Minnesota\u2019s trio of Kelly Pannek, Britta Curl-Salemme and Taylor Heise.<\/p>\n

Nicole Gosling notched double-digit assists in her 25th game of the season with her power play helper. She co-leads Montr\u00e9al in power-play points (5A) alongside Roque (1G, 4A). With the helper, Gosling now has six straight road games with a point (1G, 5A), one off Megan Keller\u2019s season-high seven-game streak set from Nov. 29 to Feb. 28 this season. The Victoire defender leads team rookie scoring with 12 points (2G, 10A), three more than the next closest skater, and sits tied for fourth among all PWHL rookies. <\/p>\n

Catherine Dubois notched her first assist of the campaign, giving her five points in her last six games played after failing to register a point in her first 13 contests this season. \u00a0She sits one point away from matching her inaugural season point total (2G, 4A) in 24 games and is more than halfway to her career high of nine (6G, 3A) across 21 games in 2024-25. The Montr\u00e9al veteran now has 20 points in 64 career games. <\/p>\n

Gwyneth Philips suffered her 10th loss in regulation in 23 starts this season \u2014 her first consecutive losses since Dec. 4 and Dec. 16. She has allowed seven goals in four meetings in the head-to-head series with Montr\u00e9al and added to her league-record for saves in a single PWHL regular season, now sitting at 679.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Leslie extended her pointless streak to three consecutive games, matching her longest drought of the season (Dec. 2-16). She last hit the scoresheet with the overtime game winner when these two teams met on March 22, in a 2-1 victory for the Charge in the Winnipeg Takeover Tour\u2122 game. She co-led all skaters on the ice today with five shots on goal, alongside Ottawa rookie Sarah Wozniewicz. <\/p>\n

Gabbie Hughes recorded her second-most faceoff wins in a game this season, leading all players with 11 to surpass 600 career wins in the circle. <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Emily Clark notched four shots on goal in 16:05 time on ice on her bobblehead night. The Charge alternate captain\u2019s parents have been able to catch both of her last two games and will head back to her hometown of Saskatoon following Ottawa\u2019s game on Wednesday. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Dara Greig played on her brother Ridly\u2019s home ice as he watched from the stands, just one night after he notched the 100th point of his NHL career. <\/p>\n

Ann-Ren\u00e9e Desbiens was given the day off for the Victoire, ending a streak of six straight games between the pipes.<\/p>\n

THREE STARS \u00a0<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0Sandra Abstreiter (MTL) 39\/39 SV
2.\u00a0\u00a0Kaitlin Willoughby (MTL) 2G
3.\u00a0\u00a0Sarah Wozniewicz (OTT) 5SH<\/p>\n

STANDINGS\u00a0<\/p>\n

Montr\u00e9al:\u00a052\u00a0PTS (14-4-2-5) \u2013\u00a01st\u00a0Place\u00a0
Ottawa:\u00a033\u00a0PTS (6-7-1-11) \u2013\u00a05th\u00a0Place\u00a0<\/p>\n

UPCOMING SCHEDULES\u00a0<\/p>\n

Montr\u00e9al: Tuesday, Apr. 7 vs. Seattle at 7 p.m. ET\u00a0\/ 4 p.m. PT
Ottawa: Wednesday, Apr. 8 vs. Seattle at 7 p.m. ET \/ 4 p.m. PT\u00a0<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR STATS<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Highlights and Press Conferences available on\u00a0Ottawa\u00a0and\u00a0Montr\u00e9al\u00a0YouTube channels\u00a0\u00a0 KANATA, ON\u00a0(April 3, 2026) \u2013 Sandra Abstreiter backstopped the Montr\u00e9al Victoire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":{"0":"post-581331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-montreal","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-montreal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}