Darkangelo's winner helps Charge upset Victoire in Game 1 of PWHL semifinal

Shiann Darkangelo scored the winner at 9:17 of the third period to lift the Ottawa Charge past the Montreal Victoire 3-2 on the road in Game 1 of their best-of-five semifinal series Thursday.

Brianne Jenner and Ashton Bell also scored for Ottawa, while Gwyneth Philips stopped 31 shots.

The Victoire (12-7-3-8) finished first in the PWHL regular-season standings, earning the right to select third-place Ottawa (12-2-4-12) over the fourth-place Minnesota Frost as their opponent.

Marie-Philip Poulin and Maureen Murphy replied for Montreal, which lost three-straight overtime games to Boston in last year's opening round.

WATCH | Charge win series opener vs. Victoire in Walter Cup playoffs debut:

Charge defeat Victoire in their PWHL playoff debut

Ann-Renee Desbiens made 24 saves before 6,570 towel-waving fans at Place Bell.

Thursday's game marked the first PWHL playoff game between two Canadian teams.

Darkangelo took a pass from Emily Clark and beat Desbiens with a wrist shot from the top right circle to give Ottawa the 3-2 lead.

The crowd nearly erupted when Poulin appeared to pounce on a breakaway with 1:56 remaining, but the play was whistled down for offside.

The Charge made their first playoff appearance after Katerina Mrazova's overtime goal against Toronto on the regular season's final day clinched a spot.

Jenner opened the scoring with a power-play goal 4:54 into the game after defender Kati Tabin chipped the puck over the glass for a delay-of-game penalty. Former Montreal forward Tereza Vanisova found Jenner alone at the side of the net.

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Pressure is on for Montreal Victoire as PWHL playoffs kick off

Three of four Victoire players were forward