Claire Dalton's hat trick powers PWHL Montreal past Ottawa, back into 1st place

Claire Dalton scored three goals, including a short-handed effort which snapped a 1-1 tie late in the second period, to lead Montreal to a 6-3 victory over visiting Ottawa in Professional Women's Hockey League action Saturday at Verdun Auditorium.

The win moved Montreal (5-3-2-2) into first place with 24 points. That's three better than Minnesota, which has an opportunity to reclaim a share of the lead Sunday with a win at home over Boston.

Tereza Vanišová opened the scoring for Montreal with a power-play goal. It was only the fourth power-play goal this season for Montreal which came into the game with the worst power-play record in the league, succeeding on only 7.6 per cent of its opportunities.

Ann-Sophie Bettez and Maureen Murphy scored the other Montreal goals. Marie-Philip Poulin collected three assists.

WATCH l Dalton shines as Montreal doubles up Ottawa:

Akane Shiga, Daryl Watts and Kateřina Mrázová scored for Ottawa (3-0-4-5).

Ann-Renée Desbiens made 28 saves for the win while Ottawa's Emerance Maschmeyer made 19 stops.

Ottawa is home to New York on Wednesday, while Montreal plays Boston at home on March 2.

The full schedule of PWHL games airing on CBC Sports this season is available here.