MONTREAL -- Lea Dumais of Beaconsfield, Que., scored the game-winner at 2:58 of overtime and added a pair of assists as seventh-ranked McGill defeated the No. 5 Montreal Carabins 3-2 in a heated women's hockey thriller at McConnell Arena, Friday.
 
The Martlets improved to 9-4-4 on the season and sit second in the five-team Quebec league, three points ahead of Montreal (7-5-5) with three games remaining before playoffs. It was UdeM's fifth consecutive loss (0-3-2) and McGill improved their lifetime record against the Carabins to 51-30 in 81 games overall. Montreal has never finished below second since joining the RSEQ conference in 2009.
 
The rugged affair featured 43 minutes in penalties, including a single-game school record 35 to McGill, surpassing the previous high of 30, which happened twice: in a 2-1 playoff loss to Montreal on March 3, 2013 and a 5-2 win at Ottawa on Jan. 19, 2014.

The Martlets lost forward Kellyane Lecours to injury late in the first period and had two players ejected early in the middle stanza. At 2:24 of the second period, Sidonie Chard was tossed after a checking-from-behind minor was called. A mere 42 seconds later, sniper Jade Downie-Landry was handed a cross-checking major, which comes with an automatic ejection.
 
Somehow the Martlets survived and thrived, killing off all five penalty-kills, four of which were in the second period. They went 0-for-2 on the power-play.

"There were a number of calls that went against us, and in my opinion, there were equal calls that didn't go the other way," said Martlet bench boss Peter Smith, who did not appear very pleased when Lecours suffered a lower-body injury after an apparent bodycheck at the UdeM blueline went unpenalized. "It was a real character win, we were down and there was a lot of confusion (with all the penalties and non-calls) out there, it was tough for the players and I thought we adapted very well. We had tremendous energy coming from our bench and our penalty-kill was phenomenal."
 
Stephanie Desjardins of Grand Falls, N.B., opened the scoring at 19:33 of the first period, converting passes from Dumais and Downie-Landry.  It was a career-high fourth marker of the season for Desjardins, a third-year defensive forward who scored three times last year and twice as a freshman.

But the Carabins countered when forward Alexandra Labelle tied the score at 18:10 of the second stanza.
 
Christiana Colizza gave the Martlets a 2-1 edge at 5:53 of the middle period. It was the second goal in 15 games for the physiology junior who was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and raised in Ottawa.
 
Swiss native Kaleigh Quennec tied the game at 2-2 for Montreal and forced overtime with her marker at 17:35 of the third period.
 
Dumais, a management senior whose three-point soiree moved her into fifth-place among the league scoring leaders, now has an 8-7-15 record in 16 games. Over her four years, the 5-foot-6 winger has tallied 42 goals and 75 points in 138 games overall.
 
"It's hard to talk about individuals because honestly, everyone in a white jersey was good tonight, but Lea had a real strong game," said Smith. "She had her feet moving, was strong on the forecheck, notably her and Laura Jardin. There was a lot of room on the bench and when you get into that situation you got to be going, and everyone was going tonight."
 
McGill netminder Tricia Deguire of Sherbrooke, Que., saved 33 of 35 shots as her record improved to 9-6. She continues to lead the conference's goalies in games (15), minutes played (935), shutouts (4), goals-against average (1.67) and save percentage (.939).

Carabins goalie Aube Racine blocked 33 of 36 shots and was saddled with the loss as her record tumbled to 6-5.
 
"After each game, our players award a diamond-studded-puck to the MVP. Last week it was Mackenzie McCallum and today she chose to award it to the entire team," said Smith. "We need that sort of effort against everyone we are playing. I think the way we played today showed the players what they have in the tank, it felt good to win that one."
 
The Carabins (7-5-5) return to the ice on Sunday, Feb. 2, hosting Carleton (4-10-2) at 2 p.m. UdeM will then close out their schedule with a road game at Ottawa (Feb. 7) and a home game against McGill on Feb. 14 in what promises to be a real Valentine's Day Special.

McGill (9-4-4) has the week off, and is scheduled to travel down Sherbrooke street, on Feb. 8 to play cross-town rival Concordia (13-1-2) at the Ed Meagher Arena. Their final two contests will be at home to Carleton (Feb. 9) and at UdeM (Feb.14). Post-season play is scheduled to begin on Feb. 20.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS