Desbiens saves 21 shots and the Montreal Victoire hold off the Toronto Sceptres 3-1

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LAVAL, Quebec (AP) — Ann-Renée Desbiens made 21 saves as the Montreal Victoire beat the Toronto Sceptres 3-1 on Sunday.

Kati Tabin, Hayley Scamurra, and Laura Stacey scored for the Victoire, who won their second straight game.

Raygan Kirk made 27 saves for Toronto. Emma Gentry scored her first career Professional Women's Hockey League goal in the loss.

Tabin opened the scoring at 8:38 of the first period when her shot from the point made it through traffic and Kirk. Montreal had a 12-3 shot advantage in the period.

Montreal appeared to double its lead with under eight minutes remaining in the first period when Marie-Philip Poulin redirected a pass into the net, but it was ruled to be a kick and was disallowed after a review.

The Victoire went up 2-0 early in the second period when Scamurra’s centering pass hit Toronto defender Kali Flanagan and went past Kirk.

Scamurra signed with Montreal in the offseason and was playing against Toronto for the first time since playing 19 games with the Sceptres last season.

Toronto got on the board 1:36 into the third period when Gentry fired a shot over Desbiens’ shoulder. Stacey responded a few minutes later to restore Montreal’s two-goal lead.

Toronto had a full two minutes at five-on-three in the final period, but could not capitalize. Desbiens made five saves, including a big stop on Ella Shelton.

This was the first of three games between Montreal and Toronto in three different arenas. The two teams will meet on Dec. 17 in Halifax as part of the PWHL’s Takeover Tour and again on Dec. 27 at the Bell Centre.

The teams will next play in their Halifax matchup.

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AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey