Ottawa Charge falls to Montreal Victoire in PWHL 5 1/2-hour marathon

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Sparked by a controversial call in the second period, the Ottawa Charge staged a dramatic rally in an effort to take a stranglehold on its first-ever playoff series Sunday afternoon at Place Bell.

The comeback fell short of completion in what turned out to be the longest game in PWHL history.

Catherine Dubois scored off an Ottawa blueline turnover at 15:33 of the fourth overtime period to give the Montreal Victoire a 3-2 victory over the Charge and even their best-of-five, opening-round set at a game apiece.

Game 3 will be played Tuesday at TD Place.

The win was the first in five playoff games for the Victoire, which was swept by Boston in last year’s first-round series after dropping Game 2 at 11:44 of triple overtime exactly one year ago to the day.

Both Ottawa’s Gwyneth Philips and the Montreal’s Ann-Renee Desbiens were outstanding between the pipes as the Charge outshot the Victoire 65-56, including a 44-30 margin through the first 80 minutes.

Montreal’s Erin Ambrose led all skaters with 58:09 of ice time while Ottawa defender Jocelyne Larocque topped the Charge with 56:01 of action.

Down 2-0 with time winding down in the third, defender Aneta Tejralova finally put Ottawa on the board with a seeing-eye shot from the point with 4:34 left in regulation time.

Brianne Jenner tied the score with 41 seconds left and Philips on the bench for an extra attacker.

Both teams were unsuccessful with 5-on-3 power-play advantages in the first overtime.

Trailing by a pair after Laura Stacey fired a wrist shot just over the right pad and under the catching mitt of Philips at 8:35 of the second period, the Charge appeared to cut the deficit in half a couple of minutes later.

But while a review showed the puck crossed the line before former Ottawa defender Amanda Boulier kicked it out, it was ruled that Charge forward Rebecca Leslie was guilty of goaltender interference.

The Charge challenged the call and lost, but did kill off the ensuing Montreal power play and did make a strong push for a goal before the intermission, to no avail.

Ottawa had a slight edge in play during the first period, which ended with the teams tied 8-8 on the shots clock.

Kristin O’Neill scored the lone goal at the 2:25 mark when she sped past a retreating Ashton Bell to get a puck sent up the middle, then converted the break by backhanding a shot between Philips’ pads.