All-Montreal Victoire line in the spotlight for Canada at women's hockey worlds

It took only six minutes into the first period of Canada's first preliminary-round game at the women's world championship for the first line to strike.

The rookie, Jennifer Gardiner, scored her first career world-championship goal against Finland, thanks in part to a secondary assist from her linemate and captain, Marie-Philip Poulin.

Veteran forward Laura Stacey completes the all-Montreal Victoire first line, which has been Canada's best so far after four games. Gardiner and Stacey have each recorded five points, while Poulin leads all forwards at the tournament with eight points.

They'll take on Japan in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. ET in České Budějovice, the Czech Republic city hosting this year's tournament.

"They're a fun line to watch, not a fun line to play against," Boston Fleet forward Jill Saulnier, who won Olympic gold alongside Stacey and Poulin in 2022, told CBC Sports' Hockey North this week. "They're obviously pretty skilled, a pretty deep group. Great people. It always comes back to that."

While the main goal at the tournament is win a world championship for a second consecutive year, it's also the last chance to test potential line combinations in a tournament format ahead of the Olympics next February. Twenty five players are wearing the red and white in the Czech Republic, but only 23 will go to Italy for the Olympics.

But it was hard to ignore the magic between Gardiner, Poulin and Stacey when the trio have played together for the PWHL-leading Victoire. Poulin leads the Victoire in points (23) followed by Stacey (20) and Gardiner (16).

"They have a little bit of everything," Canadian head coach Troy Ryan told The Canadian Press last week.

"Stacy and Pou are going to have some just