Poulin: Victoire 'need to look in the mirror' after 2nd straight early exit

The Montreal Victoire were eliminated in the PWHL semifinals by the Ottawa Charge in a 2-1 Game 4 loss on Friday, a defeat that's weighing heavily on star forward Marie-Philip Poulin.

"This one hurts," Poulin said, according to The Canadian Press' Lisa Wallace. "I think we had a deep enough team, but, unfortunately, once again, we can't get past the first round. It hurts.

"I think we're going to need to look in the mirror and see what we can do differently, how we can change, and how we can get better."

Montreal also lost in the semifinals last year in a sweep by the now-Boston Fleet in three overtime games.

The Victoire have won only one playoff game over their two seasons, with the lone victory a quadruple overtime classic Sunday. Montreal was the top seed in the regular season and chose to play the Charge.

"We tried to do what was best for the group," Victoire head coach Kori Cheverie explained. "Kudos to Ottawa for the series that they put forward. They're moving on."

Poulin and fellow star forward Laura Stacey were limited to one goal each despite combining for 55 shots on goal over four games.

Rookie goaltender Gwyneth Philips shone in the series for the Charge, posting a .956 save percentage and a 1.14 goals-against average.

"I think the whole series has been a battle of the goaltenders," Cheverie said. "Obviously, we made a really good push to the end there and just couldn't seem to find a way to get that little black rubber thing across the line. Just couldn't score."

Victoire netminder Ann-Renee Desbiens now owns a .938 SV% and a 1.61 GAA in seven career playoff games but has just a single win to show for it.

The PWHL is adding two new teams in Vancouver and Seattle next season. The looming expansion draft will shake up rosters, which adds another layer of emotion to the defeat for Victoire defender Erin Ambrose.

"I've always said that internationally is great," Ambrose said. "It's obviously a privilege to play there, but to be on this team, day in and day out with this group of people, and the phenomenal people that they are, it makes it really disappointing that we couldn't get the job done, and that's staff included. ... The hardest thing is knowing that this group will never be back together."