Poulin's hat trick, Heise's highlight-reel goals kick off PWHL's 2nd week

It started with a perfect net-front pass from Montreal defender Erin Ambrose.

The puck found Montreal captain Marie-Philip Poulin alone in front of New York goaltender Corinne Schroeder, which is always a dangerous place for her to be.

Poulin buried the puck. That seemed to open the floodgates. She added two more goals in Wednesday's game, and is now in a three-way tie for the league lead in points (four) with Minnesota's Grace Zumwinkle and Taylor Heise.

"[Poulin] is obviously the heartbeat of our team," Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie said after Wednesday's game.

"Everything that we ask the group to do, she does it. She's usually the first one to do it. She's always competing with herself and her teammates with her details and habits. It was only a matter of time before she started filling the net."

Poulin had three shots in Montreal's first game and only one in the second. Going into the third game against New York, Cheverie said the coaching staff asked Poulin to shoot a little more.

WATCH l Poulin scores 1st PWHL hat trick:

"She took that information and brought more pucks to the net, and was shooting off the pass," Cheverie said.

The team was without top six forwards Laura Stacey and Ann-Sophie Bettez on Wednesday, and had a slow start. But they picked up the pressure and sustained it, even after New York tied the game just 26 seconds into the third period.

Some extra juice came from Catherine Dubois, a reserve player who signed a 10-day contract to fill in for Bettez.

Dubois' persistence around the net earned her time on Montreal's number one power play unit on Wednesday, and ultimately a power play goal.

"Her style of play was needed, her ability to go to the net," Cheverie said. "Truly, she's a fearless