PWHL Ottawa has been a thorn in Toronto’s side since the season began, but unlike the rest of the league, Carla MacLeod’s crew has kept it going.
For the third time in four meetings this year, Ottawa got the better of Toronto, taking down the league-leaders 5-3 and in the process ending the visitors’ 11-game winning streak.
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With cries of ‘End the Streak’ filling another sold-out TD Place Arena, Daryl Watts capped off a magical afternoon with her third goal of the game into an empty net after Toronto had got back to within one on a Sarah Nurse goal from the corner.
was Watts’ day from the beginning. Her first goal got Ottawa on the board and cut Toronto’s 2-0 lead in half with four seconds remaining in the second period on the power play with Renata Fast in the box for roughing.
Her second gave Ottawa a two-goal lead with just less than five minutes to go as she waltzed into the Toronto zone untouched and fired a laser to beat goalie Kristen Campbell who tasted defeat for the first time in 12 games.
Even before Watts started to find the back of the Toronto net in that second period, she was constantly testing Campbell. Following a collision between the two as Watts flew through Campbell’s crease and wound up knocking the goaltender’s helmet and mask off her head, the two exchanged words at a subsequent stoppage.
Ottawa beat Toronto at its own game, using speed and physicality to own both the first and third periods.
Ottawa outhit Toronto 18-15 in the game and was first on the puck for most of the afternoon. It also outshot Toronto 25-22, a rarity for the visitors this season.
Toronto did dominate the second period, getting a pair of goals from Natalie Spooner, extending her league-leading goal total to 15.
nice drop pass from Hannah Miller and a perfectly placed shot over Emerance Maschmeyer by Spooner got Toronto on the board first.
Just over three minutes later, with Toronto short-handed, Kali Flanagan and Spooner broke out on a two-on-one. Flanagan’s clever feed under the stick of a defender was tipped into the upper portion of the net by Spooner.
It was Toronto’s third ‘jailbreak’ goal this season and fittingly freed Emma Maltais from the sin bin. Maltais had the first two short-handed markers earlier this year for Toronto.
If that wasn’t the pass of the game, then it belonged to Ottawa’s Katerina Mrazova who fed Brianne Jenner from the wing for an easy tap in of her own.
It was the Ottawa captain’s fifth goal of the season.
Toronto played its first game of the season without 30-minute-a-night defender Jocelyne Larocque and it was clear it missed the veteran blue liner.
Normally the tandem of Larocque and Fast eats up as much, and sometimes more, than half the game between them.
Her absence was most felt on the first Ottawa goal with Fast in the penalty box and the home side simply swarming the Toronto net before Watts changed the momentum of the game with that late-period marker.
