OTTAWA, ON (February 28, 2024) – Gabbie Hughes scored the game-winner with less than five minutes to go in regulation to help Ottawa defeat New York 4-2 on Wednesday.
After New York overcame an early 2-0 deficit to tie the game in the third period — reminiscent of the last time the two teams played in Ottawa in which New York completed the comeback in overtime— it was Hughes who broke the tie at 15:54 of the third.
The play began when defender Amanda Boulier entered the offensive zone before feeding the puck to Hughes who was headed to the net. Hughes then took the puck across the crease, outwaited New York goaltender Abbey Levy and roofed the puck with a backhand shot to give her team a 3-2 lead.
The win ends Ottawa’s two-game slide and is the team’s second victory on home ice this season.
Ottawa defender Savannah Harmon opened the scoring just 2:30 into the game, a goal that required video review, which confirmed the puck had crossed the line. Harmon took a shot in-close on Levy, and the puck just squeaked in over the line, behind the goaltender’s pad.
At 10:12 of the second period Ottawa doubled their lead to 2-0 with a shorthanded tally.
Forward Becca Gilmore fed the puck to Fanni Gasparics on the rush, who then took a shot from the slot. Levy stopped the initial attempt, but Gasparics was able to get to her own rebound, which she buried for her first-ever PWHL goal, a ‘jailbreak’ marker that also freed teammate Jincy Roese from the box.
New York answered quickly when Chloé Aurard scored her first of the season at 10:50, just 38 seconds after Ottawa’s second goal. Aurard made the score 2-1 when she created a turnover in the offensive zone, grabbing a puck that she then fired quickly past Ottawa goalie Emerance Maschmeyer.
With the game still 2-1 in the third period, New York capitalized on the powerplay to tie the game.
PWHL leading scorer Alex Carpenter intercepted a puck behind Ottawa’s net and quickly found defender Jaime Bourbonnais who was pinching in the slot. Bourbonnais executed a slick toe drag to move around an Ottawa player, then took a quick snap-shot, which beat Maschmeyer and tied the game 2-2.
With under a minute to play—and the game 3-2 thanks to Hughes’ tally—Ottawa defender Ashton Bell made what was perhaps the game’s biggest save when she denied Jessie Eldridge’s attempt to score on a seemingly wide-open cage.
Bell’s save allowed teammate Lexie Adzija to seal the victory for Ottawa with an empty net goal with four seconds remaining in regulation.
Ottawa earns three points for the regulation victory, which ties them with New York in the standings—each team has 16 points, two points behind fourth place Boston.
Maschmeyer made 24 saves to earn her fourth victory of the season. Levy stopped 26 in the loss.
Up next, Ottawa hosts provincial rivals Toronto on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET. The next afternoon, New York welcomes Minnesota to UBS Arena for a battle set for 12:30 p.m. ET.
Postgame Quotes:
Ottawa head coach Carla MacLeod on her team’s 4-2 win: “We needed that win. We needed it for not only us, but for all those fans in our building. Nothing is ever easy in this world and that’s OK. It was certainly well earned tonight. There were some ups and downs. We’re trying to find that consistency so there is not a big margin. There will always be ripples. Finding that consistency will be our next step.”
Fanni Gasparics on scoring her first career PWHL goal: “It felt really, really good, obviously. There were even — I didn’t even know — some Hungarian fans out there. I love our home crowd. People are incredible. To see some Hungarian flags and a sign that says ‘Let’s go Fanni’ feels even more great. I’m really happy that I could do it at home, and in a winning game.”
Notes:
- Attendance: 6,889 — The Arena at TD Place, Ottawa, ON.
- Three Stars: 1) Gabbie Hughes 2) Savannah Harmon 3) Fanni Gasparics
- Shots ended 30-26 in favour of Ottawa — They outshot New York 10-5 in the first and 11-8 in the second — New York outshot Ottawa 13-9 in the third.
- Ottawa’s Hayley Scamurra led all players with six shots on goal — Teammate Daryl Watts was second with four.
- Micah Zandee-Hart, Jaime Bourbonnais and Jessie Eldridge each had three shots, the most among New York players.
- Ottawa was 0/1 on the powerplay — New York was 1/4.
- Ottawa’s lone powerplay was a 5-minute advantage after New York’s Abby Roque took a major penalty for checking from behind, the first major in the PWHL this season — Ottawa had just one shot on the extended powerplay.
- Ottawa scored its league-leading third shorthanded goal of the season.
- Chloe Aurard is the first player from France to score a PWHL goal and Gasparics is the first from Hungary.
- With her third period assist, Alex Carpenter extends her point streak to six games (5G, 3A) — Her point streak is the longest in the PWHL this season, surpassing Eldridge’s five-game streak (Jan. 5-20 – 4G, 2A) and Ottawa’s Lexie Adzija’s five-game steak (Jan. 2-24 – 3G, 2A).
- Carpenter leads the PWHL in scoring with 16 points, including seven on the powerplay.
- Hughes was Ottawa’s goal leader for less than five minutes — After scoring her fifth of the season, Adzija’s empty net marker matched Hughes’ goal total to become co-leader again.
- Adzija takes over the team scoring lead with eight points.
- Hughes is tied with Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle with a league-high three game-winning goals.
- Harmon logged 27:16 of ice time, the most of any player in the game — Harmon was also a game-best +3.
- New York defenders Ella Shelton and Bourbonnais led all New York players in time-on-ice— Shelton logged 26:16 and Bourbonnais played 25:32.
- Carpenter played the most amongst forwards at 23:02.
- Entering the game, New York had played in five straight games that required extra time — Before tonight, they hadn’t played in a game that ended in regulation in over a month (Jan. 26 vs Toronto).
- Ottawa wins its first game at home in over a month (Jan. 23 vs Toronto).
- All four of Ottawa’s wins this season have been by two or more goals.
- Ottawa (4-0-4-5) now has 16 points on the season, tied with New York at the bottom of the PWHL standings— Their four regulation wins vs. New York’s two gives them the tiebreaker for fifth place.
- New York (2-4-2-5) sits in sixth place, tied in points with Ottawa with 16 — They are eight back of league-leading Montréal.
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