LAVAL, Que. – For several hushed moments in the dying seconds of Game 1 of the PWHL Finals, Montreal Victoire fans watched Laura Stacey on the ice, clutching her knee.

Since her first year with the Victoire in 2024, Stacey has emerged as a fan favorite with a relentless engine – and one of the most productive players in the PWHL. With Ann-Renée Desbiens pulled, and the Victoire pushing to tie the game, Stacey got tangled up with Ottawa’s Gabbie Hughes in the corner and was in visible pain on the ice.

Eventually, she was helped off the ice by Montreal captain — and her wife — Marie-Philip Poulin. Fifteen seconds later, Poulin placed a perfect pass to the net front, and rookie defender Nicole Gosling beat Gwyneth Philips to force overtime with just 2.1 seconds left in regulation.

Stacey returned for the extra frame, which prompted chants of “Stacey, Stacey” by the Victoire faithful.

Abby Roque, playing in her first postseason in her debut season with the Victoire, scored the game-winner 2:29 into overtime to seal the 2-1 victory.

It was the fifth straight game between Ottawa and Montreal in the playoffs that required overtime dating back to last postseason.

Game 2 of the best-of-five series is scheduled for Saturday afternoon (2 p.m. ET) back at Place Bell.

Ottawa’s strong start/missed opportunity in the first

The Charge were outshot by double-digits in all four games of their semifinal series against the Boston Fleet. But they came out strong in the first period on Thursday, outshooting the Victoire 10-5 – the first time Ottawa put 10 pucks on net in a single period during this year’s playoffs.

The team did a nice job getting to the inside of the middle of the ice, with nearly all of those looks coming from between the faceoff dots. Once again, though, Ann-Renée Desbiens was able to keep Montreal in the game, stopping all 10 shots she faced in the period.

A diving cross-crease save on Fanuza Kadirova, who has the co-lead in playoff scoring, was among the highlights. She also denied Ottawa captain Brianne Jenner’s breakaway chance in the latter half of the period.

It was the first time the Charge failed to score in the first period of the 2026 postseason. That’s all credit to Desbiens.

Rebecca Leslie breaks through

For the second year in a row, it was Rebecca Leslie who opened the scoring in the PWHL Finals. Last year, against the Minnesota Frost, was a bit more of a pleasant surprise after a one-goal regular season campaign by Leslie, who spent two seasons between Toronto and Ottawa as a useful depth player.

A lot can change in a year, though. Now, Leslie is one of the breakout stars of the season, a legitimate top-line winger and Ottawa’s top goalscorer; Only Minnesota’s Kelly Pannek (16) had more goals than Leslie (14) league-wide this season.

“The purpose that she brings to her practices and her training, she’s always looking for ways to get better, and I think I saw that training with her this summer,” Jenner said before the playoffs. “The way that she came into the season, the way that she was skating, the accuracy with her shot, so many pieces to her game were just so dialed in I think from the start of the season.”

A lot of that was on display on Leslie’s second period goal.

Montreal defender Nadia Mattivi, who was signed to a 10-day contract on Thursday afternoon to make her playoff debut, failed to hold the line on a pass to the point and Leslie jumped on the loose puck and used her speed to lead a rush chance the other way for the Charge.

Leslie did well to wait out a sliding Erin Ambrose, and dragged the puck around Ambrose’s outreached stick to get an initial shot off. After Desbiens made the initial save, Leslie gathered her own rebound and scored with some chaos in the crease.

This story will be updated.