Rebecca Leslie scored the game-tying and game-winning goals to lift the Ottawa Charge to a 4-2 win over the Seattle Torrent on Wednesday night in Ottawa.
Wednesday marked the last night of PWHL action before the Olympic break, as eight Charge and six Torrent players head to Italy for the Winter Games. Ottawa head coach Carla MacLeod is a bonus entry to that list, being Czechia’s head coach.
Fanuza Kadirova and Emily Clark also scored for Ottawa (4-5-0-7). Gwyneth Philips made 24 saves.
Hilary Knight and Jesse Eldridge replied for Seattle (4-1-2-7), which remained in last in the eight-team standings, one point behind Toronto. Corinne Schroeder stopped 26 shots.
On the power play, Hannah Bilka forced a sprawling save from Phillips but Knight cleaned up the mess to open the scoring at 5:40 of the second period.
Rebecca Leslie scores twice for her hometown team, including the game-winning goal with 30 seconds remaining in regulation, and leads Ottawa to 4-2 win over Seattle.
Just over two minutes into the third period, after Charge forward Katerina Mrazova blocked Natalie Snodgrass’s zone-clearing attempt, Kadirova recovered the puck and beat Schroeder.
Stealing the puck from Jocelyn Larocque, Torrent forward Danielle Serdachny fed Eldridge for a one-timer to take a 2-1 lead 10:03 into the third.
Leslie tapped in a pass from Brianne Jenner to even the game with 5:14 remaining. Leslie then added her second of the game on the power play with 30 seconds left in regulation.
Clark then added the insurance marker 13 seconds later to close out the game.
Takeaways
Torrent: Compete to the final buzzer. The Torrent were in the driver’s seat until the last few minutes, when Leslie scored both her goals.
Charge: Ottawa needs more goal-scoring options down the lineup. Through 16 games, only three Charge players have tallied more than three goals: Jenner, Leslie and only now Kadirova.
Key moment
Leslie capitalized on a quick centring pass in front of the net from Jenner with 5:14 left in the contest to tie the score at 2-2.
Key stat
Leslie’s two goals put her in a three-way tie for third in the PWHL with eight.
Up next
Torrent: Host the Toronto Sceptres on Friday, Feb. 27
Charge: Host the Boston Fleet on Saturday, Feb. 28
Victoire 3, Sceptres 0
Ann-Renee Desbiens made 22 saves to earn her third shutout of the season as the Montreal Victoire defeated the Toronto Sceptres 3-0 at Place Bell.
It was also the fourth career shutout for Desbiens, whose bobblehead was given out to the fans. The league’s top goaltender last season went all year without a blank sheet. She has only allowed four goals in four games against the Sceptres this season.
Natalie Mlynkova, Marie-Philip Poulin, and Shiann Darkangelo scored for Montreal (7-3-0-5), which won its third straight game and has won six of their last seven games. The Victoire are undefeated in six games at their primary home rink.
Raygan Kirk made 28 saves for Toronto (4-1-3-8), which is going in the opposite direction. The Sceptres lost their third straight game and have lost seven of their last eight.
Montreal defeats Toronto 3-0 in the PWHL’s final night of action before the Olympic break.
Montreal opened the scoring with 3:27 remaining in the first period when a loose puck bounced to Mlynkova, who put a backhand behind Kirk from the slot.
Poulin doubled the lead, scoring a power-play goal on a rebound with 5:35 left in the second period. That was followed by another power-play goal less than four minutes later by Darkangelo, who had a rebound go right to her stick to put it into the empty side of the net.
Olympians on both teams were honoured after the game as they leave Thursday for Milan. All eight teams were in action across the PWHL on Wednesday, as the league heads into its Olympic break.
Takeaways
Victoire: Montreal’s power play scored two goals for the first time all season, converting on half their opportunities.
Sceptres: Toronto enters the Olympic break at a low point, losing seven of its last eight games and its last regulation win being on Dec. 27 against Montreal.
Key moment
Poulin and Darkangelo scored power-play goals 3:41 apart late in the second period to turn a 1-0 game to 3-0.
Key stat
The Sceptres were shut out for the second straight game and have now gone 131:50 without a goal, dating back to their 6-4 loss to Seattle on Jan. 20.
Up next
Victoire: Visit the New York Sirens on Feb. 26.
Sceptres: Visit the Seattle Torrent on Feb. 27.
Fleet 4, Sirens 3 (SO)
Alina Muller scored the winning goal in the eighth round of the shootout, Aerin Frankel had 30 saves and the Boston Fleet beat the New York Sirens 4-3 on Wednesday night in Lowell, Mass.
Abby Newhook, Liz Schepers and Jamie Lee Rattray also scored goals for the Fleet.
Boston (8-2-2-2) leads the league with 30 points this season.
Kristyna Kaltounkova scored two goals for the Sirens and Kristin O’Neill added another. Kaltounkova leads the PWHL with 11 goals this season, one more than Minnesota’s Kendall Coyne Schofield, and is just the third rookie in league history to score double-digit goals. Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle scored 11 goals in the inaugural season and Sarah Fillier had 13 for the Sirens in 2024-25.
New York (7-0-2-7) has lost three in a row and four (three in overtime) of its last five. Kayle Osborne stopped 32 shots for the Sirens.
Kaltounkova drew penalties that gave New York power plays for the final 1:57 of regulation and that last 1:10 of overtime. The Fleet went into the game killing a league-high 96.9% of its penalties.
The Fleet beat New York 2-0 on Dec. 17.
Boston played in its second consecutive shootout, the Fleet’s third in the last four games and fourth this season.
Up next
New York: The Sirens host Montreal on Feb. 26.
Boston: The Fleet visits Ottawa on Feb. 28.
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