Brianne Jenner, Kateřina Mrázová power PWHL Ottawa to 1st win over Montreal

Ottawa goalie Emerance Maschmeyer thinks there's a rivalry brewing between the Professional Women's Hockey League's three Canadian teams as the regular season reaches its final third.

"Montreal is becoming a rival, I would say, and I think Toronto's up there too for us right now," Maschmeyer said. "We'll see who comes out on top."

On Sunday, Ottawa finally got the best of a budding nemesis with a 4-2 road win.

Maschmeyer stopped 34 shots, and Ottawa defeated Montreal for the first time in four meetings in a hotly contested affair in front of a rowdy 10,172 fans at Place Bell.

"It was chippy out there tonight. There's a lot of passion, both teams really want to win," Maschmeyer said. "We have a lot of fun with games like that."

WATCH l Tejralová scores winner against Montreal:

Captain Brianne Jenner had a goal and an assist, and Kateřina Mrázová pitched in with three helpers to lead the offence. Daryl Watts, Aneta Tejralova and Gabbie Hughes — into an empty net — also scored for Ottawa (5-0-5-6), which snapped a two-game losing skid.

Ottawa is fifth in the six-team PWHL, tied in points with fourth-place Boston with one more game played.

"I think an issue we've had is just consistency for 60 minutes," Maschmeyer said. "Tonight was, I would say, the first game that we were as close to 60 minutes as possible."

Laura Stacey and Melodie Daoust scored for Montreal (7-3-4-3) while Ann-Renee Desbiens made 29 saves. Captain Marie-Philip Poulin was out for preventive measures after sustaining an apparent injury in Friday's 3-0 loss in Toronto and is considered day-to-day, head coach Kori Cheverie said.

"All of us knew that she wasn't in the lineup tonight and the entire team tried to stand up and play as a team," Stacey said.