LPHF: Montreal and Boston duel in the first round of the playoffs

Corey Chevery, Marie-Philip Poulin and the other players on Montreal's squad didn't know it when the game started at 3:30 Saturday afternoon, but they were preparing to experience a prelude to the first round of the Women's Professional Hockey League playoffs.

Members of the Montreal team were informed Monday evening that they will compete against Boston.

Just Saturday, in Lowell, Massachusetts, Montreal and Boston met for the fourth time this season, in what was both teams' final game on the regular schedule.

Boston won 4-3 thanks to a goal late in the third period, after squandering a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes of play.

This victory, achieved in regulation time, allowed Boston to qualify for the playoffs and finish in third place ahead of Minnesota.

She also worked on preparing for the duel, which seems promising and close.

Captain Marie-Philippe Poulin said, during a video conference in which players and representatives of the four qualified clubs participated: “If we look at Saturday’s match, the start of the match will be very important for us.”

“The toughness aspect will be important. We will have to be ready to take shots and give them as well and move the puck quickly. That put us in some difficulty on Saturday,” added Poulin, who scored the equalizer with just over three minutes left in regulation time.

The two teams faced each other on three other occasions during the regular season, with Montreal winning two of those games, including one in overtime.

Montreal (10-3-6-5) collected 41 points and finished in second place, six points behind Boston (8-4-9-3).

“It's a fairly equal encounter,” Chevery analyzed.

“We will have to make sure we are strong while staying outside the box. We will have to play in a disciplined manner, not only in terms of intensity but also in terms of respecting the game plan. The team that sticks to its game plan more will win the series,” the Montreal coach added.

This confrontation will bring together again, against each other, Pauline and American Hilary Knight, another big name in women's hockey and one of the stars of the Boston team.

“The mutual respect is there every time I have the opportunity to play against Hilary Knight,” Poulin said.

“She is an icon of women's hockey, and of hockey in general. To be able to go one-on-one against her is always an honor and always a source of pride. The leader that she is, the woman that she is. It's going to be amazing.”

For his part, Knight believes that fans of both clubs will be spoiled.

“This is another chance to win,” Knight initially said about this duel.

“When I go to a game, I don't think about myself, I just think about our team and how we can compete and win every skate, every presence on the ice.

But for viewers, that's what you want. You hear these two names; She added: What an incredible encounter for them.

The first two games of the third of five series between Montreal and Boston will be played Thursday and Saturday, each time at 7 p.m., at Place Bell. Game 3 will be held at the Tsongas Center in Lowell on Tuesday, May 14.

If necessary, Games Four and Five will be played on Thursday, May 16 at Lowell, and Sunday, May 19 at Place Belle, respectively.

The scenario for the first round of the semi-finals comes after the decision of the first-placed Toronto team to choose to face Minnesota in the preliminary round.

“It was a very difficult decision as you can imagine, with the parity in the league all season, and the fact that we had to wait until the last day of the season to find out which lineup would finish last giving us a chance of going through.” “Getting to the playoffs,” Jenna Kingsbury said. The General Director of Training from Toronto at the beginning of the video meeting.

“We did not make this decision lightly and analyzed everything from all angles,” Kingsbury added.