Poulin plays to 'Captain Clutch' nickname, leading Montreal to face Ottawa in PWHL Walter Cup Finals

Montreal Victoire goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens admitted to experiencing goosebumps at the mere thought of envisioning teammate and captain Marie-Philip Poulin lifting the PWHL Walter Cup championship trophy.

“She is a legend. She’s ‘Captain Clutch,’ the one and only one,” Desbiens said during a Zoom conference call with reporters on Wednesday. “For me to witness that, I would be so lucky as a teammate to have this opportunity to share this moment with her because of everything she’s done, and because of everything she’s still doing.”

Poulin and the Victoire aren’t there yet. But they are preparing to open their best-of-five Walter Cup Finals series, hosting the Ottawa Charge on Thursday night. What’s also true is the Victoire wouldn’t be making their first finals appearance if not for Poulin who, at 35, continues adding to the clutch reputation she earned by scoring three Olympic gold medal-clinching goals.

Despite a lower-body injury limiting her ice time, Poulin delivered two winning goals — including the semifinal series clincher on Tuesday night — in Montreal’s five-game elimination of the two-time defending champion Minnesota Frost. Her other winner came in a 1-0 triple-OT decision in Game 2.

In advancing, the Victoire avoided a repeat of their past two semifinal losses, and became the PWHL’s first higher-seeded team to win a playoff series in the league’s three seasons.

“She is the best player in the world,” Victoire coach Kori Cheverie said, noting Poulin also blocked two shots in the closing minutes of Montreal’s 2-1 Game 5 win. “Our team is so proud of her. And we’re lucky that she’s with us and continues to be a great captain.”

It’s the Charge standing in Montreal’s way in the PWHL’s first all-Canadian title matchup. Ottawa returns to the finals after losing in four games to Minnesota last year.

The fourth-seeded Charge are the more rested team after having been off since a 4-3 double-overtime win over Boston in Game 4 on Sunday.

“I’m really proud of our group that we’re able to make it back here,” Ottawa captain Brianne Jenner said. “It’s not easy to get to this point. We know there’s one step left, and it’s going to be the hardest step.”

The meeting is a rematch of last year’s semifinals, in which the fourth-seeded Charge upset Montreal in four games all decided by one goal. Montreal won this year’s season series by going 3-0-1.

The teams feature two respected leaders in Poulin and Jenner, long-time Team Canada teammates. The goalie matchup pits Desbiens, another Team Canada veteran, facing off against Team USA backup Gwyneth Philips, who was last year’s playoff MVP.

“We were a great team last year, and I think we’re a great team this year,” Charge coach Carla MacLeod said. “We know it’s a fresh go at it, but at the same breath there’s a presence in our room that understands what it’s going to take to try to get this thing done.”

This marks the first PWHL final in which both teams are coached by women, which MacLeod called “a complicated” subject to address in a text to The Associated Press.

“In 2026, it shouldn’t be considered special to have two women coaching in a final. But the reality is, there are only two female coaches in the league, so it still matters,” she wrote.

“The PWHL has helped create a space where women can be seen as leaders in professional sport, and that visibility matters,” MacLeod added. “I hope we get to a place where women coaches are given the same opportunities as men — where their experience is recognized simply as experience, and they're trusted to coach and lead all athletes regardless of gender.

“Good hockey is good hockey. Good coaching is good coaching.”

Philips, Ottawa defender Rory Guilday and Montreal forward Hayley Scamurra have a chance to win a second championship in three months. All three were members of the U.S. gold medal-winning team at the Milan Cortina Games.

“It’s been nice for me to come out of that with the gold medal and ride that momentum and bring positive energy to the team,” said Scamurra, who scored Montreal's winning goal in a 2-1 victory against Minnesota in Game 3. “I’ve just been feeling really confident, honestly, all season, but especially after (winning gold). It’s been fun to play with an edge, and excited to bring that to the finals for the Walter Cup.”

As regular-season champs, the Victoire bucked the standings by choosing third-seeded Minnesota over Ottawa as their semifinal opponent. Now they can’t avoid the Charge.

“I don’t know if anything was about avoiding, because I would say that playing the back-to-back Walter Cup champions is probably just as hard of a competition that we would face,” Cheverie said. “At the end of the day, we said we have to go through everybody if we want to get to where we want to get to.”

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

Ottawa Charge players celebrate after defeating the Boston Fleet in double overtime to win their PWHL hockey playoff series in Ottawa, Ontario, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Montreal Victoire teammates celebrate after defeating the Minnesota Frost in PWHL playoff hockey action in Laval, Que., on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Ottawa Charge forward Michela Cava (86) celebrates after her winning goal with defense Ronja Savolainen (88) in the second overtime of Game 4 in a PWHL hockey playoff series against the Boston Fleet in Ottawa, Ontario, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Montreal Victoire's Marie-Philip Poulin (29) celebrates with goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens (35) after defeating the Minnesota Frost in PWHL playoff hockey action in Laval, Que., on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

While John Tortorella has only been coaching the Vegas Golden Knights for a little over six weeks, they are his sixth NHL team and he is coming up on his 22nd anniversary of hoisting the Stanley Cup.

Through all that, he still wonders something about playoff hockey.

“I’m not sure what’s better: experience or youth, when you have no clue what’s going on?” Tortorella said. “They don’t understand the pressures of it because they don’t know. Or the experience.”

Tortorella's team showed the value of experience, taking a 3-2 series lead over the mostly new-to-this Anaheim Ducks by winning in overtime on Tuesday night. On the flip side, the less-seasoned Buffalo Sabres beat the Canadiens in Montreal to even up their best-of-seven series at 2-2.

Next up are two more chances to test Tortorella's question.

When/Where to Watch: Game 5, Thursday, 7 p.m. EDT (TNT, TruTV)

Series: Tied 2-2

Just when it looked like the Sabres were in trouble, they scored the opening goal less than seven minutes into Game 4 and endured a back-and-forth night full of replay reviews and penalties. Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff wasn't thrilled with some opposing players “going down easy” and wished for more embellishment calls, but he's proud of how his young group handled it.

"We battled through all that," Ruff said Wednesday. “We got to make sure we’re in there but at the same time not taking anything stupid and putting our team at a disadvantage. It’s a fine line right now, but I think there’s a way to juggle around it.”

The Canadiens got a taste of playoff hockey a year ago, losing in five games to Washington in the first round. A few players are left (and Phillip Danault returned) from 2021, when they went on an improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final before falling short against Tampa Bay.

Captain Nick Suzuki, one of those players, chalked up the latest defeat to a bad bounce and already seems ready for Game 5.

“We knew we had to go to Buffalo anyway,” Suzuki said. "We’re a good road team. We've shown that all year, so we've go do it again and bring it back home.”

A few Sabres players have been in the NHL postseason, but the organization is here for the first time since 2011 after ending the longest drought in league history. The newcomers have been some of Buffalo's best players, and it seems like they are enjoying the ride.

“As a kid, this is what you dream of, playing playoff hockey,” said Josh Doan, who leads the team in scoring this series with six points. “There’s nothing you trade it in the world for, getting the opportunity to do this.”

When/Where to Watch: Game 6, Thursday, 9:30 p.m. EDT (TNT, TruTV)

Series: Vegas leads 3-2

Tortorella would love for experience to win out because the Golden Knights are “full of it.” And they know it.

“We’re a pretty comfortable group in there, and there’s a lot of players in there who’ve been through it and had a lot of success and won,” Vegas defenseman Rasmus Andersson said. “We’re an older team, and it’s that feeling that no moment is too big.”

Vegas won't have top-pairing defenseman Brayden McNabb, who was suspended for his late hit that injured Ducks center Ryan Poehling.

Even without Poehling, Anaheim has plenty of veteran guys to rely on, including Cup winners Alex Killorn and John Carlson and players like Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba who have gone on deep runs. But the Ducks' core is about youth, speed and not getting intimidated by the situation.

“I’m pretty excited to see what we all got," 23-year-old center Mason McTavish said. ”It’s our first time with our backs against the wall. I’m excited for us to kind of show everybody what we got."

Coach Joel Quenneville, who has three Cup rings from his time as head coach in Chicago, has been around long enough that Tuesday night reminded him of a similar Game 5 — 11 years ago ... at Anaheim. That was when he was with the Blackhawks, who erased exactly this deficit on the way to their third championship in six years.

“(We have) a lot of younger guys that they’ve been fine the whole playoffs and nothing seems to change their demeanor or their approach,” Quenneville said. “We’ll come back home and focus on the next game and know we’re right in the thick of things."

As for the notion that a young team needs to learn how to lose before it can win, Quenneville quipped, “I’m not ready for that.”

AP Hockey Writer John Wawrow in Buffalo, New York, AP Sports Writer Mark Anderson in Las Vegas and The Canadian Press contributed to this report.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Buffalo Sabres' Zach Benson (6) reacts to a goal by teammate Tage Thompson against Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) during second period, second round, game 4, NHL playoff hockey game in Montreal on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

Buffalo Sabres' Zach Benson (6) reacts after scoring against Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) during third period, second round, Game 4, NHL playoff hockey action in Montreal on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

Vegas Golden Knights center Tomas Hertl (48) and left wing Brandon Saad (20) celebrate after Hertl's goal against Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal (1) during the third period in Game 5 of a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus