MONTREAL -- Team captain Melodie Daoust of Valleyfield, Que., registered two goals as sixth-ranked McGill rallied to double No.7 Montreal 6-3 in RSEQ women's hockey at Arena CEPSUM, Friday,

The Martlets outshot Montreal 33-25, which was missing four players who are representing Canada at the FISU Winter Games in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The victory improved the Martlets' head-to-head record with the Carabins to 4-0 on the season -- outscoring them by a 15-6 margin --  and 42-18 lifetime, with one meeting remaining, at McConnell Arena on Feb. 11.

The hosts took a 2-0 lead with early goals in each of the first two periods, but McGill responded with five-straight in the middle frame before Montreal could find the back of the net again, then added one more in the third.

"We were a bit sloppy in the first and we talked about some things we needed to straighten out for the second," said McGill head coach Peter Smith. "Our puck support was way better in the second period, we had a much better shot mentality and it certainly paid off."

Daoust, a 5-foot-6 centre, scored the tying goal at 5:23 of the middle stanza, then gave McGill a 3-2 lead at 10:34 by one-timing home a pass from Gabrielle Davidson of Pte. Claire, Que. The three-point effort improved Daoust's record to 8-14-22 in 14 games and she now trails Ottawa sophomore Mélodie Bouchard by just one point in the conference scoring race, with two games in hand.

Estelle Duvin of France had opened the scoring for the Carabins just 2:49 after the initial puck drop and earned an assist when Valérie Drouin doubled the advantage 21 seconds into the middle period.

However, McGill roared back with five goals in an 11-minute span.  Nicole Howlett of Tsawwassen, B.C., put the Martlets on the board at 4:24 of the second, followed by Daoust's back-to-back markers.

Olivia Atkinson, a sophomore from Oakville, Ont., then mirrored that performance with two of her own. She tallied a power-play marker at 12:27, then added another at even strength at 15:21.

Duvin potted her second of the evening on the power play at 16:45 to bring the Carabins within two and close the period at 5-3, but it would prove to be Montreal's last marker.

Freshman Sidonie Chard of Kingston, Ont., redirected a shot by Pamela Psihogios of Laval, Que., at 3:34 of the third to complete the scoring.

"The line of Atkinson, Daoust and Lavoie (which accounted for four of the six goals) was real good, but I thought we had contributions from everybody in the game today," said Smith. "In particular, Psihogios, Bowman and Chard don't get as many shifts as some of the other lines but they did well on the shifts that they had. They brought a lot of energy and ended up getting a goal, so I really liked their performance."

Goaltender Tricia Deguire, a freshman from Sherbrooke, Que., returned to the lineup after missing one game after being shaken up in a loss at Concordia last week. She made 22 saves on 25 shots as her record improved to 11-3. Marie-Pier Chabot stopped 27 of 33 pucks for the Carabins as she dropped to 8-7.

Montreal was 1-for-2 on the power-play while the Martlets went 1-for-5.

"In the first period I didn't like the power play but we picked it up in the second and third," said Smith. "We had a bit of a slow start in the game but we got it going."

With four games remaining before playoffs, division-leading McGill (12-4-0) hosts Carleton (3-10-2) on Feb. 4 at 2 p.m. The Carabins (9-7-1) have two weeks off before facing Ottawa (9-6-1) in a battle for second-place on Feb. 10.
 
LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE

SCORING SUMMARY
McGill 6 at Montreal 3
(Friday, January 27, 2017 - Arena CEPSUM @ UdeM)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
McGill 0-5-1 -- 6
Montreal 1-2-0 -- 3

1st Period-
1, Montreal, Estelle Duvin 3 (St-Onge, Mercier), 2:49.
 
Penalties-St-Onge Mtl (hooking), 3:06; St-Onge Mtl (bodychecking), 9:16.

2nd Period-
2, Montreal, Valérie Drouin 2 (Duvin), 0:21.
3, McGill, Nicole Howlett 4 (Constantinou, Cotter), 4:24.
4, McGill, Melodie Daoust 7 (Bell), 5:23.
5, McGill, Melodie Daoust 8 (Davidson, Cotter), 10:34.
6, McGill, Olivia Atkinson 8 (Downie-Landry, Davidson), 12:27 (PP).
7, McGill, Olivia Atkinson 9 (Lavoie), 15:21.
8, Montreal, Estelle Duvin 4 (Chiasson, Mercier), 16:45 (PP).
 
Penalties-Poirier Mtl (check to the head, check to the head), 9:42; Downie-Landry Mcg (hooking), 9:53; Beaulieu Mtl (interference), 11:56; Constantinou Mcg (check to the head), 16:07.

3rd Period-
9, McGill, Sidonie Chard 3 (Psihogios, Bowman), 3:34.
 
Penalties-Davidson Mcg (tripping), 8:15.

Shots on Goal-
McGill 7-14-12 -- 33.
Montreal 8-10-7 -- 25.

Power Play Opportunities-
McGill 1 / 5;
Montreal 1 / 2.

Goalies-
McGill, Tricia Deguire (W, 11-3-0, 25 shots-22 saves; 60:00).
Montreal, Marie-Pier Chabot (L, 8-7-0, 33 shots-27 saves; 60:00).

Attendance: 100
Start: 7:02 PM
End: 9:05 PM
Length: 2:03

Referees-Gabrielle Ariane-Lortie.
Linesmen-Joanie Duchesneau, Elizabeth Mantha.
 
THREE STARS:
1. MCG - 17 Melodie Daoust
2. MCG - 2 Olivia Atkinson
3. MTL - 8 Estelle Duvin


2016-17 RSEQ WOMEN'S HOCKEY STANDINGS (updated after games on Jan. 27)
 

TEAM	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	PIM
McGill	16	12	4	0	24	0.750	41	28	2-0-0	142
Ottawa	16	9	6	1	19	0.594	49	45	0-1-0	166
Montreal	17	9	7	1	19	0.559	50	44	0-1-0	144
Concordia	14	6	7	1	13	0.464	39	38	1-0-0	100
Carleton	15	3	10	2	8	0.267	28	52	0-2-1	168