After scoring twice early in the third period, PWHL Ottawa held a 3-0 lead over New York with just over five minutes left in regulation in front of a sold-out crowd of 8,062 at TD Place Arena.
Ottawa was in complete control and looked to be cruising to their third regular season win of the PWHL campaign in a game that carried massive implications between the two teams at the bottom of the standings.
Everything was going smoothly… until it wasn’t.
New York capitalized on an elongated defensive breakdown from Ottawa, scoring three quick goals in 1:39 minutes late in the third to force overtime.
All of a sudden, New York had all the momentum, they were playing with confidence and Ottawa was trying desperately not to concede again. In overtime, New York controlled the possession before ultimately finding the winner.
“The moral of it is it’s on us, we’re up 3-0, we got to find a way to finish (the game),” Ottawa defenseman Savannah Harmon said in the postmatch press conference.
Regarding her team’s overtime struggles, Harmon called it a tough mental block to get over, but she’s not worried about it at all; she’s confident in her teammates and that they’ll fix their overtime issues in due time.
New York Head Coach Howie Draper was happy with the performance and praised his team’s resilience during the comeback victory.
“Ottawa’s been an outstanding team, they play a fast game and it was hard for us to get our feet underneath us. As a result, we gave up three goals … but one thing I love about our team is I don’t think at any point did I feel that we felt defeated. I felt like there was a belief and we’ve proven we are a resilient team that never gives up,” Draper said.
“We thought we were playing a really good game the whole time and we just were missing little bounces and in the (offensive) zone we were not getting the shots on net that we needed,” said New York forward Abby Roque -who recorded a goal and two assists- of her team’s performance.
Ottawa Head Coach Carla MacLeod emphasized the loss stings, but that there’s a lot to take away from it.
“I think (this is) a bit of a learning process. It felt like maybe we shifted a little bit from what we know to be our strengths and almost sort of sat back, and clearly they had to they had to push and New York did a great job pushing and we just didn’t have a response for that today.”
MacLeod emphasized the comeback was not a result of taking their foot off the gas.
“That’s not our group at all. It wasn’t like this thing’s done, it’s almost like (we were) just uncertain how to finish (the game) out,” MacLeod said. “Seven games in you’re gonna have these moments.”
With the win, New York improves to a record of 2-2-0-1-0-4 (regulation wins-overtime wins- shootout wins-overtime losses-shootout losses-regulation losses) and leapfrogs Ottawa for fifth place in the standings.
Ottawa falls to a record of 2-0-0-4-0-1 and sits in last place in the league with 10 points, one point behind New York and Boston who sit third in the league. The loss marks the fourth time Ottawa has lost in overtime in seven games played this season, they are 0-4 in the extra frame.
“I think for us right now overtime is a bit of a hurdle that we’re obviously working through,” MacLeod said. “I think when you’ve gone into overtime as often as we had and haven’t found success yet, there’s there’s a bit of a hurdle there collectively … it’s nothing major, we just need to make some tweaks here and there and there’s certainly a lot of the season left to work through it.”
MacLeod’s message for the team was to make it a learning experience.
“Sometimes these (games) that sting, -we’ve had other games with a similar outcome that didn’t sting the same- so you just got to let the sting settle. You’re going to be on the good side of some of those games and on the bad side of some of those games; tonight New York got the best of us.”
The game started slowly and both teams focused on defending well, while trying to find their footing offensively. Ottawa broke the deadlock just under eight minutes in courtesy of an Aneta Tejralova one-timer off a pass from Emily Clark.
in a game Ottawa leads 1-0. Photo: Adamo Marinelli
As a result of 30 minutes of stellar defensive hockey by both sides, there wouldn’t be another goal until early in the third period. Ottawa started the final frame strong and was motivated to seal the win. Goals by Lexie Adzija -who leads Ottawa in scoring- and Savannah Harmon on the powerplay gave Ottawa a 3-0 lead and a stranglehold on the game.
Halfway through the third period, Ottawa was outshooting New York 32-18 and was in complete control on both sides of the puck. Offensively, they moved the puck well, creating open passing and shooting lanes with their quick, intricate puck movement. Defensively, they forced New York to the outside for lower-percentage scoring chances and limited New York’s offensive zone time by intercepting passes in neutral ice, creating turnovers, and not allowing New York to establish themselves in the offensive zone.
For 50 minutes, New York didn’t look like they were going to score. That changed rather quickly.
Roque cut the deficit to 3-1 after firing home a rebound from Jaime Bourbonnais’ initial shot from the low slot. As soon as New York got the first goal, they knew the game wasn’t over and that they could make a comeback.
“We have an outstanding leadership group. I think they stepped on the ice and demonstrated what we needed to do. Then we got the first goal and that was probably the biggest game changer for us.” Draper said.
Roque felt the same way about their first goal.
“I think when we’re down 3-0 we’re like let’s focus on the first one not about (us) being 3-0 (down) and I think after (the first goal) they just kind of started to roll in,” Roque said. “We scored one and thought that’s a feel-good. Right when Jada scored that second one, we were like ‘Okay, we’re in it, we got this’. That was a huge momentum swing for us.”
44 seconds later, Jade Downie-Landry made it a one-goal game. Nerves were high on Ottawa’s bench, Azdija was called for a boarding penalty and New York’s Alex Carpenter capitalized 27 seconds into the powerplay, outwaiting Ottawa goalie Emerance Maschmeyer before deking around her and tucking it home. New York got the tying goal 55 seconds after they made it a 3-2 game.
Draper believes that his team had all the momentum heading into OT.
“We were feeling pretty loose, we felt like we could achieve anything after coming back from that deficit and it might have been a little tougher on (Ottawa),” Draper said.
“When you come back from a 3-0 deficit, you get to play a little looser because it’s a momentum swing in your favor not against you. … when you’re up 3-0 and lose it you’re maybe gripping your stick a little tight, so I think that definitely worked in our favor.” Roque said.
Carpenter buried the overtime winner on a one-timer from near the faceoff dot for her second of the game and fifth of the season.
Despite the loss, Adzija said there are a lot of positives to take from their game.
“First of all, we can score and we can get pucks on net. When we’re playing our game. I truly think we could be the top team in this league and I think we showed that for 95 percent of the game,” Adzija said. “This group is great and very talented, it’s now about finding ways to win.”