TORONTO, ON (March 20, 2024) – Renata Fast and Natalie Spooner both scored third period powerplay goals as Toronto came back to win 2-1 against Boston at Mattamy Athletic Centre on Wednesday evening.
Sarah Nurse had two assists for Toronto and Erica Howe made 28 saves to record her first PWHL victory.
The win is Toronto’s eleventh in a row and the team sits alone atop the PWHL standings with 36 points.
Toronto entered the third period down 1-0 after Boston scored a first period powerplay goal of their own to take the lead.
After putting up only nine shots through the first two period of play, Fast finally broke through 2:14 into the third period with her second goal of the season and first on the advantage.
The defender tied the game 1-1 via a point shot that found a path through a heavy screen in front of Boston goaltender Emma Söderberg. Nurse initially deflected a Blayre Turnbull point shot that was then picked up in the corner by Hannah Miller and delivered to the stick of Fast, who made a move past a defender and fired it into the top corner to tie the game.
Nurse factored in on Toronto’s second powerplay goal of the period just five minutes later, holding the blue line and preventing Boston from clearing the zone. The puck found its way onto the stick of Spooner, the league-leading goal scorer, who stickhandled around a Boston defender and made no mistake as she ripped a shot over the glove of Söderberg.
The goal was Spooner’s 13th of the season. She sits four ahead of Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle and five up on both Alex Carpenter (NY) and Marie-Philip Poulin (MTL).
Boston loses a game when scoring first for the first time this season. They took advantage of an early 5-on-3 opportunity after Jocelyne Larocque and Nurse got called for minor penalties 39 seconds apart.
Defender Sidney Morin sent a pass to Jamie Lee Rattray at the side of the net, received the puck back and then wired a wrister through a screen and over Howe’s shoulder for her first tally of the season. Jessica Digirolamo picked up her second assist of the year on the goal.
Boston controlled the majority of play in the opening frame, going one-for-three on the powerplay and allowing just three Toronto shots on net. Howe battled to make nine saves, four on the penalty kill.
Boston continued their strong play in the second, sending another 11 shots at Toronto’s net. Howe turned aside all 11.
Howe’s first win of the season came in her second start and third appearance. Kristen Campbell had started Toronto’s previous 10 games. Söderberg made 19 saves in the loss.
Up next, Toronto visits Ottawa on Saturday, March 23 for the latest ‘Battle of Ontario’ at The Arena at TD Place. Boston looks to get back in the win column when they visit New York on Monday, March 25 at UBS Arena. It will be the final game before the PWHL’s International Break, which runs from March 26 to April 18.
Postgame Quotes:
Toronto goalie Erica Howe on if she felt pressure with her team’s win streak: “Oh yeah, I was really nervous, but I was confident. You know nerves are good, you want to win, you want to keep the streak alive, but very confident. I let a few teammates know like Soup. I was like ‘You know I’m really nervous.’ And she said ‘yeah, I get pretty nervous too but it’s alright, you’re going to be great.’ They just push me forward and I felt confident going in there.”
Toronto head coach Troy Ryan on the message before the third period: “We let them speak a little bit about where they thought they were. The group just talked a little bit about the situation in Boston’s end and that we needed a bit more push back than what we were giving. I thought they found a way to give a bit more in the third and found a way to win.”
Boston head coach Courtney Kessel on her team’s performance on Wednesday: “I thought we had a great game, probably one of our best this season and it just didn’t fall our way. We’ve dealt with a lack of scoring all year, not just here in Toronto. The chances are there, they just aren’t going past the goal line. We’ve got six more games left, so we have to bear down.”
Boston forward Lexie Adzija on her debut after being traded from Ottawa on Monday: “I think I did okay tonight. Obviously wanted a better outcome. For the situation that it is, I think I did the best I could and hopefully I’ll continue to build on that.”
Notes:
- Attendance: 2,525 – Mattamy Athletic Centre, Toronto, ON.
- Three Stars: 1) Erica Howe 2) Natalie Spooner 3) Sidney Morin
- Shots ended 29-21 in favour of Boston — They led the shot total in the first period (10-3) and second period (11-6) but Toronto had the advantage in the third (12-8).
- Three shots in the first period is the lowest total for Toronto in a single period all season.
- Morin and Renata Fast (TOR) led all players with five shots on goal – Megan Keller (BOS), Hilary Knight (BOS) and Spooner (TOR) all followed with four.
- Boston was 1/3 on the powerplay — Toronto was 2/4.
- This is the first PWHL game where all goals came via the powerplay.
- Toronto scored their second and third powerplay goals on home ice after entering the game 1/27 at Mattamy Athletic Centre — They are now 3/31 at home on the PP.
- Toronto scored two powerplay goals in a game for the first time this season.
- Boston’s worst ranked powerplay (7.0%) converted for the first time in 13 games since Jan. 24 against Ottawa – They ended a scoreless streak of 28 powerplay opportunities.
- Toronto’s top ranked penalty kill (94.2%) allowed a powerplay goal for the first time in 14 games since Jan. 13 when they surrendered two PPG against Ottawa – Toronto’s successful penalty kill streak ends at 39.
- Spooner scored her fifth powerplay goal of the season, the most in the PWHL.
- Spooner now sits tied with Alex Carpenter (NY) for first place in league scoring with 18 points — She also extends her point streak to five games (3G, 4A), one game away from the longest in the PWHL this season.
- Sarah Nurse moves into sixth place in league scoring with 14 points (4G, 10A) — With two assists in tonight’s game, she now sits in a four-way tie for first in assists.
- Fast led all skaters with 27:42 time-on-ice —Keller was second with 26:14.
- Hannah Miller has now recorded points in three straight games (2G, 1A).
- Fast moves into fifth in scoring among defenders with nine points (2G, 7A).
- Blayre Turnbull’s point streak ends at six games – tied for the longest of the season.
- Toronto wins for just the second time this season when trailing after two periods.
- Boston loses their first game after scoring first — They were a perfect six-for-six prior to tonight.
- Toronto now has a +11 goal differential on the season, tied with Minnesota for best in the PWHL.
- Toronto (10-3-0-5) sits in sole possession of first place in the PWHL with 36 points, three up on Minnesota and six on Montréal.
- Boston (4-4-2-8) falls to fifth place in the league standings with 22 points on the season, two behind Ottawa who earned a regulation victory against New York tonight.
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