MONTREAL -- Team captain Melodie Daoust set up Gabrielle Davidson to force overtime, then delivered two decisive goals in a post-overtime shootout as the No.3-ranked McGill University women's hockey team won for the third straight outing, skating to a key 2-1 Saint Valentine's Day triumph over eighth-ranked Ottawa at McConnell Arena, Sunday.

Among the many guests on hand to witness the victory was McGill principal and vice-chancellor Suzanne Fortier, dressed in the school colours with a red and white McGill scarf.

With only one game remaining before playoffs, the result clinched second-place for McGill (12-5-2) in the RSEQ standings and assures them home-ice advantage over third-place Ottawa (10-6-2) in the RSEQ best-of-three semifinals, slated to open on Feb. 25. Should the Gee-Gees win both of their remaining contests, the best they could do would be to tie McGill but the Martlets hold the tie-breaker with three victories in five head-to-head meetings.

The Martlets, who improved to 88-14-7 in 109 lifetime meetings against Ottawa, had a 45-25 margin in shots but were thwarted time and time again by Gee-Gees netminder Sarah-Maude Labrecque -- a sister of Redmen defenceman Samuel Labrecque -- who made 41 saves, plus three more in the shootout.

Playing between the pipes for McGill was 5-foot-10 Taylor Hough, an International Development Studies senior from Toronto, who registered 24 saves and turned aside four of five in the shootout. She improved her record to 10-6 on the season and 22-8 lifetime in RSEQ play.

Ottawa took advantage of a sluggish McGill start when rookie Marimee Godbout-Parent of Rouyn-Noranda, Que., scored at 11:41 of the opening period.

"I don't lose my temper often but as soon as the first period was over, I went right into the dressing room and gave them my 'insight' as to how I thought the first period went," said Martlets head coach Peter Smith, with his tongue planted firmly in cheek. "I didn't think we came out ready to play and at this time of the season, we need to play a good 60 minutes. We played a good 40 minutes today but we've had too many 40-minute games this season. The girls responded real well and that second period was among our best this season. Ottawa pushed back a bit in the third but it was a good back-and-forth period."

McGill, which outshot the Gee-Gees 16-8 in the middle frame, tied it up at 12:54 when Davidson and Daoust worked a nifty give-and-go on a 2-on-1 break, which Davidson converted for her 12th of the season. It extended the management senior's goal-scoring streak to three and she has now tallied in five of the past six games.

"We were shaken up a little bit and had to re-focus after a lazy first period," said Daoust, who leads the RSEQ scoring race and ranks third in the CIS with 31 points, including 15 goals in 19 games. "It was good to come out strong for the second and to get a lot of shots on net. That shooting mentality really helped us get back in the game."

The teams remained deadlocked at 1-1 through the third period and a five-minute, 4-on-4 overtime session, which featured three fruitless power-play chances, two of them by the home side.

In the shootout, Carol-Ann Upshall scored on Ottawa's second attempt but Daoust answered right back to make it 1-1. After each side had exhausted their five shooters, Daoust returned to the scene of the crime and put on a repeat performance with the go-ahead marker. Then it came down to a showdown between Upshall and Hough, which the latter prevailed.

"On the first shot, I knew what I was going to do as I am familiar with their goalie," said Daoust, who deked on both her goals. "But on the second shot, I didn't know until the last second what I was going to do, whether I was going to make the same move or change it up. In a shootout, you have to take what the goalie gives you, so I tried to (read the situation) and then decided on my move."

"Melo was one of the players that came prepared to play the full 60 minutes, like she always does," noted Smith of his Olympic gold medalist. "She's an inspirational leader and doesn't leave anything in the room. Boy, she gets out there and plays hard."

McGill went 0-for-4 on the power play but erased all five Ottawa chances, including a checking-to-the-head double minor assessed to rookie Nicole Howlett only three minutes after the opening faceoff. The Martlets also killed off a lengthy 5-on-3 situation early in the second period, when Olivia Sutter and Daoust were penalized at 2:04 and 2:32, respectively.

"Our PK was real good today, we worked hard in preparing for that," explained Smith, who improved his lifetime record to 441-166-31 in 638 games over his 16 seasons behind the McGill bench. "The only thing that we have to get better on is the power play, especially the 4-on-3 situations that we had today. You don't see those often and we weren't good enough. We had opportunities to get scoring chances but were too static there."

McGill (12-5-2) closes out the regular season on Friday, Feb. 19, when they host fourth-place Concordia (6-10-2) in a 7 p.m. start. Among the Stingers six victories were two decisions over the division-leading Montreal Carabins (14-3-1).

LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE

CIS SCORING LEADERS

CIS STANDINGS


SCORING SUMMARY
Ottawa 1 at McGill 2 (OTS)
(Sunday, February 14, 2016 - McConnell Arena @ McGill)

GOALS BY PERIOD
Ottawa 1-0-0-0 -- 1
McGill 0-1-0-0 -- 2

1st Period-1, Ottawa, Marimee Godbout-Parent 3 (Whissell), 11:41.

Penalties-Howlett Mcg (check to the head, check to the head), 3:07; Upshall Ott (roughing), 4:55.

2nd Period-
2, McGill, Gabrielle Davidson 12 (Daoust), 12:54.

Penalties-Sutter Mcg (tripping), 2:04; Daoust Mcg (hooking), 2:32; Houle Ott (interference), 8:24.

3rd Period-
(No Scoring).

Penalties-Bouchard Ott (interference), 2:54; Houle Ott (cross checking), 19:07.

OVERTIME (5 mins., 4-on-4)-
(No Scoring).

Penalties-Houle Ott (tripping), 1:39; Moffatt Mcg (hooking), 3:53.

Shootout -
Ottawa 1 (Laurin NG, Carol-Ann Upshall GOAL, Bouchard NG, Bouchard NG, Rioux NG, Upshall NG),
McGill 2 (Davidson NG, Atkinson NG, Melodie Daoust GOAL, Pohlod NG, Fouracres NG, Melodie Daoust GOAL).

Shots on Goal-
Ottawa 11-8-6-0-0 -- 25.
McGill 8-16-11-7-1 -- 43.

Power Play Opportunities-
Ottawa 0 / 5;
McGill 0 / 4.

Goalies-
Ottawa, Sarah-Maude Labrecque (L, 4-3-0, 42 shots-41 saves; 65:00).
McGill, Taylor Hough (W, 10-6-0 (25 shots-24 saves; 65:00).

Attendance: 194
Start: 3:03 PM
End: 5:11 PM
Length: 2:08

Referee-Patricia Pare.
Linesmen-Marie-Claude Belisle, Genevieve Gouin.

THREE STARS
1. MCG - 17 Melodie Daoust
2. OTT - 25 Sarah-Maude Labrecque
3. MCG - 32 Taylor Hough