PWHL Semi-Finals Game 1: Ottawa Charge @ Montréal Victoire

In the inaugural season for the PWHL, the Ottawa Charge (or PWHL Ottawa as they were known) had multiple chances to make the playoffs, but they blew it by losing their final three games in regulation. It was seen as quite the disappointment to not have playoff hockey in Ottawa, especially as the Senators were also mired in their own playoff drought. However, in their first season known as the Charge, Ottawa was able to barely sneak into the third seed, which earned them a semi-final berth against the Montréal Victoire. They ended with 44 points on the season, which was tied with the Minnesota Frost and Boston Fleet, but they had the tie-breaker on both of them, leaving the Fleet as the odd team out.

Despite technically finishing third, the Victoire decided to play the Charge in round one, as is their right based on the PWHL's rules. Hopefully that'll give Ottawa some bite as they know that they were seen as the "easiest" opponent amongst them, Toronto, and Minnesota. The semi finals are a best-of-5 series, and it will be a tough one for the Charge, as the Victoire finished with nine more points in the 30-game regular season.

Montréal had 77 goals for and 67 against (+10), while Ottawa had 71 goals and 80 against (-9), so although that's not a massive difference, it's not surprising why they chose the Charge who were tied for last in goal differential. Marie-Philip Poulin is of course the main player to watch out for on Montréal, as she led the league with 19 goals and was fourth in points with 26. Meanwhile, Teresa Vanišová had an excellent season in Ottawa with 22 points, good for 8th in the PWHL.

Here were the lineups from the last game for each team, with potential changes being announced later:

Charge goalie Emerance Maschmeyer is unlikely to play during the semi finals, but rookie Gwyneth Philips has been even better with a .919 SV% in 15 games, so we'll see if she's able to steal some games for Ottawa. Ross Arnold had a great recap of the week and preview of the series as well, so be sure to read that.

Tonight's game begins at 7:00 eastern and can be seen on TSN 1 and 5. Go Charge!