MONTREAL -- Ariane Barker of Napierville, Que., scored a goal and two assists and Catherine Dubois added a shorthanded game-winning tally as second-ranked Université de Montréal rallied for a 4-3 win over No.3 McGill in RSEQ women's hockey at CEPSUM Arena, Friday.

It was a back-and-forth affair, as both teams alternated goals until Dubois, a native of Charlesbourg, Que., scored on a breakaway at 12:04 of the final frame, after forcing a turnover at her defensive blue line.

The division-leading Carabins -- whose magic number to clinch first-place is one point with three games to go -- are on a nine-game win streak. They have emerged victorious in four of five meetings against McGill this season, with each contest decided by one goal. Three of them were settled in overtime.

McGill, meanwhile, dropped to third in the conference with 20 points and a 9-5-2 record. They sit one point back of second-place Ottawa (10-5-1).

"I'm not sure that we've had a full 60-minute effort against the Carabins all year," said Martlets head coach Peter Smith. "We've had some real good periods of hockey when we played with good structure and we played hard, but we haven't had a 60-minute game against them."

Barker, a fifth-year gerontology senior, has proven lethal in the head-to-head series, tallying four of her nine goals this season against McGill.

Freshman Olivia Atkinson of Toronto opened the scoring for McGill on a power-play marker at 14:22 of the first period, giving the Martlets a 1-0 lead at the intermission. Kim Poirier of Baie-Comeau, Que., tied it for the Carabins midway through the second with the extra attacker. Later in the period, first-year science student Shana Walker of Toronto put the Martlets ahead with 11 seconds to go, but Barker responded just five seconds later to even the score for Montreal.

Teammate Melodie Daoust of Valleyfield, Que., scored a power-play goal at 3:17 in the third period to give the Martlets a temporary 3-2 lead. She upped her career record to 87-110-197 in 98 games played overalll for McGill.

However, McGill found itself killing off a full 5-on-3 power-play at 6:58 when rearguard Emily Davies was called for tripping and forward Marie-Philip Lavoie was whistled for a five-minute butt-ending major and an automatic game misconduct. It only took the Carabins 45 seconds to respond and Marion Allemoz, a native of France buried the equalizer.

Less than five minutes later, Dubois thrust a dagger into the heart of the Martlets. McGill had a chance to force overtime with a late power-play opportunity but came up empty.

"I thought we were real good in the first and third but over the past couple of weeks, we've run into periods of time where we kind of lose our focus and make some mistakes," explained Smith. "When you're playing a team like Montreal, if you lose focus and make mistakes, they're going to make you pay. They're a good team and they're dangerous."

Martlets senior Gabrielle Davidson from Pointe Claire, Que., notched an assist in the losing effort to bring her just one shy of 200 career points, with a 117-82-199 record in 151 games overall.

McGill, which was assessed 25 of the 35 penalty minutes dished out, was 2-for-5 on the power-play, though they did conceded a shorty. The Carabins went 2-for-6 with the man advantage.

Goaltender Elodie Rousseau-Sirois of Pohenegamook, Que., backstopped Montreal with 25 saves and improved her record to 6-2-2. Her counterpart, Taylor Hough of Toronto, was credited with 27 saves as her record fell to 8-6-4.

"This game will help us," added Smith, whose troops have four games remaining before playoffs. "It was a playoff kind of game and that'll help us for the post-season. We need to learn from that and move on -- we have another game in two days."

The Martlets host last-place Carleton (3-14-0) at McConnell Arena on Sunday, Feb. 7 at 3 p.m.

The league-leading Carabins (13-3-1) also return to the ice on Sunday, when they visit second-place Ottawa (10-5-1). The Gee-Gees crushed Carleton 8-2 on Friday and rookie Melodie Bouchard collected six points, including two goals, to surpass Daoust atop the RSEQ scoring race. Bouchard has a 9-20-29 record in 15 contests, two points ahead of Daoust, who has 14-13-27 in 16 games and dropped to fourth among the CIS national scoring leaders.

LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE

LINK TO CIS SCORING LEADERS

LINK TO CIS STANDINGS
 
SCORING SUMMARY
McGill 3 at Montreal 4
(Friday, February 5, 2016 - Arena CEPSUM @ UdeM)
 
McGill 1-1-1 -- 3
Montreal 0-2-2 -- 4
 
1st Period-
1, McGill, Olivia Atkinson 4 (Hillier, Lavoie), 14:22 (PP).
 
Penalties-Poirier Mtl (tripping), 2:05; Davies Mcg (interference), 7:00; Gariepy Mtl (bodychecking), 12:39; MacKenzie Mcg (tripping), 15:30.
 
2nd Period-
2, Montreal, Kim Poirier 1 (Allemoz, Barker), 9:52 (PP).
3, McGill, Shana Walker 2 (MacKenzie, Davies), 19:49.
4, Montreal, Ariane Barker 9 (Allemoz), 19:54.
 
Penalties-Moffatt Mcg (cross checking), 7:51; Cagianos Mcg (hooking), 9:32.
 
3rd Period-
5, McGill, Melodie Daoust 14 (Davidson, Moffatt), 3:17 (PP).
6, Montreal, Marion Allemoz 4 (Poirier, Barker), 7:45 (PP).
7, Montreal, Catherine Dubois 10   12:04 (SH).
 
Penalties-Gariepy Mtl (hooking), 2:42; Davies Mcg (tripping), 6:58; Lavoie Mcg (major-butt ending, game misconduct), 6:58; Poirier Mtl (hooking), 10:27; Paradis Mtl (tripping), 16:47.
 
Shots on Goal-
McGill 10-6-12 -- 28.
Montreal 6-16-9 -- 31.
 
Power Play Opportunities-
McGill 2 / 5;
Montreal 2 / 6.
 
Goalies-
McGill,
Taylor Hough (L, 8-6-0, 31 shots-27 saves; 57:35),
Empty-net (0 goals against; 2:25).
Montreal,
Elodie Rousseau-Sirois (W, 6-2-0, 28 shots-25 saves; 60:00).
 
Attendance: 98
Start: 7:03 PM
End: 9:01 PM
Length: 1:58
 
THREE STARS:
1. MTL - 28 Catherine Dubois
2. MTL - 39 Marion Allemoz
3. MCG - 17 Melodie Daoust
 

FOR FURTHER INFO CONTACT:
Kirsten Whelan or Earl Zukerman
McGill Sports Info Office
(514) 398-7012