LAVAL (Interstat) — Jincy Roese scored 4:30 into overtime as the Minnesota Frost defeated the Montreal Victoire 5-4 on May 2 in Game 1 of their Professional Women’s Hockey League playoff series at Place Bell. Minnesota leads the series 1-0. The Frost are now 17-14 this season, while the Victoire are 22-9. Minnesota recovered after surrendering a two-goal lead and then a one-goal advantage in regulation. The overtime winner came after Kelly Pannek and Grace Zumwinkle set up Roese, capping a back-and-forth contest that featured six combined goals in the second and third periods. Montreal had won all four previous meetings between the teams this season, but Minnesota ended that run in the opener. Montreal rallied with three Stacey goals, but Minnesota answered each time.

Laura Stacey powered Montreal with a hat trick, finishing with three goals, six shots on goal and two penalty minutes. She scored at 17:49 of the second period to tie the game at 2, then struck again at 2:58 and 4:46 of the third period, each time pulling the Victoire level. Marie-Philip Poulin and Abby Roque each had two assists, helping set up Stacey’s first and third goals. Erin Ambrose and Nicole Gosling assisted on Stacey’s second goal. Stacey’s final goal, assisted by Roque and Poulin, made it 4-4 and forced overtime.

Grace Zumwinkle was Minnesota’s top star with one goal and one assist to go with three shots and one hit. Taylor Fox added two assists and five shots, and Kelly Pannek had two assists, one shot and three hits. Shiann Darkangelo scored for Montreal and had two shots on goal, while Sidney Morin scored and recorded four shots and two penalty minutes. Jincy Roese had the overtime winner among her three shots. Maddie Rooney made 21 saves on 25 shots for the win. Kendall Coyne Schofield scored and had three shots, and Klara Hymlarova contributed two assists, one shot, two penalty minutes and one hit. Katy Knoll also scored for Minnesota.

Minnesota opened the scoring at 8:36 of the first period when Katy Knoll converted from Hymlarova and Fox. Kendall Coyne Schofield made it 2-0 at 16:16, with Fox and Lee Stecklein assisting. Montreal answered in the second when Darkangelo scored at 2:46 from Lina Ljungblom and Kati Tabin. Stacey tied it at 2 with a goal at 17:49 from Poulin and Roque, but Zumwinkle restored Minnesota’s lead at 18:35 with an unassisted goal. The second period ended with a major penalty to Britta Curl-Salemme for check to the head and a roughing minor to Catherine Dubois. The Frost also received minors to Hymlarova and Mae Batherson in the first period, while Montreal’s Erin Ambrose, Amanda Boulier, Abby Roque, Kati Tabin, Laura Stacey and Maggie Flaherty were assessed penalties at various points.

Stacey tied the game again at 2:58 of the third, with assists from Ambrose and Gosling. Morin answered at 3:46 from Hymlarova and Pannek to put Minnesota ahead 4-3. Stacey completed her hat trick at 4:46, assisted by Roque and Poulin, setting up overtime. In the extra period, Roese scored at 4:30 from Pannek and Zumwinkle to give the Frost the series opener. Minnesota had to navigate a busy penalty sheet, including a cross-checking minor to Morin in the third and the major to Curl-Salemme. Montreal’s Dubois received a roughing minor on the same late-second-period sequence, and the teams traded matching roughing calls to Roque and Curl-Salemme earlier in the second. The teams combined for 12 penalties, and Minnesota weathered Montreal’s pressure after Stacey’s third goal.

The series continues with Game 2 in Montreal. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Montreal with a 57.4 percent probability to win before the game, but the Frost overcame that projection. Minnesota will look to carry the overtime momentum into the next meeting, while Montreal will try to even the series after a Stacey-led comeback fell short in the extra period.