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Anne-Renee Debien made 21 saves, including 11 in the third period, as the Montreal Victoire defeated the Toronto Scepter 3-1 in Women's Professional Hockey League action Sunday afternoon at Place Bell in Laval, Quebec.
Katie Tabin, Hayley Scamurra and Laura Stacey scored for Victoire (2-0-0-1), which won its second straight game.
Ragan Kirk made 27 saves for Toronto (2-0-0-2). Emma Gentry scored her first career PWHL goal in the loss.
Laura Stacy's power-play goal in the third period sealed Montreal's 3-1 victory over Toronto.
Tabine opened the scoring at 8:38 of the first period when her shot from the point found traffic and Kirk scored his first goal of the season.
Montreal appeared to double their lead with less than eight minutes left in the first period when Marie-Philip Poulin redirected a pass into the net, but after being reviewed, the ball was ruled a hit and disallowed.
Despite not playing since November 25, Montreal came out and opened up a 12-3 shot advantage in the first period. They carried that momentum into the second period, posting 1:35 of five-on-three power play early in the period, although Montreal was unable to capitalize.
The Victoires eventually went ahead 2-0 early in the second period when Scamurra's centering pass hit Toronto defender Kali Flanagan and went past Kirk. It was Scamurra's first goal of the season.
Scamurra signed with Montreal in the offseason and played against Toronto for the first time since playing 19 games for them last season.
Toronto got on the board 1:36 into the third period when Gentry fired a shot over Desbiens' shoulder. Stacy responded minutes later and restored Montreal's two-goal lead.
Toronto had a full two minutes of five-on-three play early in the third due to three consecutive penalties committed by Victoire. They failed to score and Desbien made five saves, including a great goal from Ella Shelton.
This is the first of three games between Montreal and Toronto, all in different arenas. The two teams will meet Dec. 17 in Halifax on the PWHL Takeover Tour and again Dec. 27 at the Bell Centre.
