Rookie Hannah Murphy held on to record her third win in as many starts to start her pro career. She withstood a barrage of 38 Victoire shots, including 30 between the second and third periods.
18:37 into the first period, Abby Roque opened the scoring for the visitors, but the lead did not last as Seattle’s Alex Carpenter scored her fourth goal of the season at 3:32 into the second.
Julia Gosling’s winning goal came 3:23 into the third, but the Victoire pressed until the final buzzer, including a six-on-four stretch with a power play and an extra attacker in the final 2:30 in search of the equalizer. Ann-Renée Desbiens made 21 saves in the loss.
Seattle moves into the top half of the standings and enters the holiday season tied for fourth with Minnesota. The Torrent head south to Dallas with a winning record for the first-ever PWHL Takeover Tour in Texas on December 28. Meanwhile, Montreal has earned some well-deserved time at home after a three-game road trip that took them to both sides of the country; the next game against Toronto on December 27 at the Bell Centre.
QUOTES
Seattle forward Alex Timmerman on the team’s overall performance: “It was a good bounce back from our last game and we played a more complete game this time against a really good team. We shut down everything they had tonight. We got bodies in front of the pucks and tried to block as many as we could, knowing we had Hannah behind us. We have super confidence in her, but we tried to give her a little break every now and then and block a few ourselves.”
Torrent head coach Steve O’Rourke on goaltender Hannah Murphy’s play: “I go back to the draft when Meghan Turner was sitting there – I’m just an innocent bystander sitting next to her – and she’s trying to decide what she wants to do in the second round, and what she never really hesitated on was selecting Hannah Murphy. You can see why. She’s calm, she’s cool, she’s collected, and on top of that [play] that I would like to see again, the rest [her game] was excellent from start to finish. She gets in the way of a lot of pucks, knows where to go and competes to get to that next spot. A good start.”
Victory Head Coach Kori Chevrie at the end of this 10-day road trip: “You have to look at it as a whole. This group has been on the road for the last 10 days, traveling from coast to coast. And there are a lot of positives. You can’t just look at this last game or the last period. In fact, I would say that the first period was not our best. And from then on, we have moved on and liked the type of game we put on the ice. From the whole journey, we take out what we need. In this game, we take what we need from Halifax and Vancouver and then we move to the Bell Centre.”
Montreal rookie forward Nicole Gosling on playing professionally against her cousin Julia: “It’s not the first time we’ve played against each other, but to be here at this level, it’s definitely very special for both of our families and everyone who supports us. To both be here, it’s definitely something we don’t take for granted, but it would have been nice to get the win.”
NOTES
This was Seattle’s second comeback win of the season, before beating New York 2–1 on December 3 with a pair of goals late in the third period. Montreal suffered its first loss of the season when leading after the first period or when entering the third period with the score tied.
Hannah Murphy‘s 37 saves were a career-best, moving the rookie to second in the league in save percentage (.966) and goals-against average (1.00) after not allowing more than one goal in any of her three stars. The second-round pick out of Colgate University had a career .938 SV% and 1.56 GAA over 90 games for the Raiders.
Julia Gosling recorded her third multi-point performance of the season, a new career-high, with a goal and assist tonight to become the team leader in points with seven (4G, 3A) and just one goal back of the league leader, Kendall Coyne Schofield. The former Toronto Scepter scored her first points of the 2024-2025 season in her sixth game (2A); after tonight’s sixth game of the season, the second-year forward has matched the number of goals she scored in her rookie season over 30 games.
This was the first PWHL game played between Cousins Julia And Nicole Goslingwith the latter competing in her rookie season with the Victoire. Both players were first-round draft picks a year apart, with Julia selected sixth overall by Toronto in 2024 and Nicole fourth overall in 2025 by Montreal.
Alex Timmerman‘s fourth goal of the season marks both the team lead and second place in the PWHL behind Gosling. Her four goals in six games are one game faster than her pace in the 2024/25 season. The former New York Siren has scored goals in back-to-back games against Montreal, which lit the lamp when she last faced the Victoire on May 3, 2025 at Prudential Center.
Abby Roque‘s second goal of the season lifted her to points in consecutive games for the first time as a member of the Victoire, after she assisted on Marie-Philip Poulin’s opening goal in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Vancouver. Her last two games with consecutive points came from March 22-25 with a goal and an assist for the Sirens.
Jessie Eldridge has points in consecutive games after scoring her first goal of the season against Boston. Her last point streak came over three games from February 23 to March 5, 2025 with a goal and two assists as a member of the Sirens. While playing for New York, the forward scored five goals against Montreal – the second most against the team in PWHL history.
Hilary Knight‘s team-leading fifth assist of the season was the key helper on Gosling’s winning goal. After being left off the scoresheet against her former Boston team, the Seattle captain has provided assists in consecutive games against Montreal dating back to April 28, 2025, as a member of the fleet.
Anna Wilgren ended a four-game scoring drought with an assist – her second of the season – against her former Victoire team. Her last assist came in this season’s opening game in Vancouver, also on a Gosling marker. In 30 games during her rookie season in Montreal, Wilgren had three goals and six assists.
Laura Stacey has been the main helper on both RoqueThis season’s goals, the latest coming in the third period of Montreal’s 4-0 win over New York on Nov. 25. Stacey has been productive at Climate Pledge Arena, scoring a power-play goal against Boston during the Seattle Takeover Tour on Jan. 5.
Marie-Philip Poulin extended her lead as Victoire’s top scorer with her third assist and fifth point of the season. She now has points in consecutive games for the second time this season. The Victoire captain has scored a goal against every PWHL opponent except Seattle and will look to complete her record when the teams meet again on March 19, 2026 at Place Bell.
Montreal recorded 38 shots on the season, with Stacey all skaters leading with six shots on goal, followed by Maureen Murphy And Shiann Darkangelo five each each. Their career-high of 31 shots last season came on Dec. 17 in Toronto. During the last game in Vancouver, Murphy had a career-high six shots on goal.
Ann-Renee Desbiens made her fifth start of the season and allowed two goals for the first time since the Victoire’s season opener against Boston.
Lily Delianedis suited for her second PWHL match instead Jenna Buglioni who was cut from the Torrent lineup with an upper-body injury after leaving Sunday’s game in the second period.
Catherine Dubois missed her third straight game for the Victoire and is day-to-day.
THREE STARS
1. Hannah Murphy (SEA) 37/38 SV
2. Julia Gosling (SEA) 1G, 1A
3. Abby Roque (MTL) 1G
STANDINGS
Montreal (3-1-0-2) – 2nd place (tied)
Seattle (3-0-1-2) – 4th place (tied)
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