MINNEAPOLIS, MN (February 27, 2024) – Sarah Nurse scored in the third period and in overtime on Tuesday to propel Toronto to its sixth straight win with a 4-3 victory in Minnesota.
Toronto has now won six straight games and starter Kristen Campbell extends her personal winning streak to seven.
Nurse’s first of the game came at 15:00 of the third period, which made the score 3-2 in what was Toronto’s third lead of the game. Minnesota had outshot Toronto 9-1 in the period to that point before Nurse broke through on Toronto’s second shot of the frame.
Renata Fast grabbed her second assist of the night on the goal after she thwarted a Minnesota clearing attempt at the blueline, took the puck across the ice and fired a wrist shot from the top of the circle. Minnesota goalie Nicole Hensley was able to make the first save, but Nurse jumped on the puck at the side of the net and potted the rebound into the open cage.
After Minnesota defender Sophie Jaques scored her second of the game to send the match to overtime, it was once again Nurse who broke through in extra time to secure two points for her team.
The winning play began after defender Jocelyne Larocque took the puck deep into the Minnesota zone where she then traded it back and forth with Emma Maltais at the blue line. Nurse drifted back away from net-front coverage and called for a pass, which Larocque delivered to her tape. Nurse got the toe of her blade on a one-timer, sending the puck up into the air and fooling Hensley as it popped up over her pad and into the back of the net.
Maltais, Fast, Larocque and Nurse each picked up two points in the Toronto win.
Blayre Turnbull opened the scoring early in the first period, at 5:45, when she finished off a slick give-and-go with Maltais. After passing to Maltais at the attacking blue line, the captain got the puck back and took it to the net with speed. Turnbull then made a move around the lone Minnesota defender and fired a shot that squeaked through the five-hole of Hensley to give Toronto a 1-0 lead.
Jaques, Minnesota’s newest defender, tied the game 1-1 just over two minutes later when she jumped on a loose puck at the side boards and worked it down below the goal line before finding teammate Kelly Pannek. Pannek picked up her eighth assist of the season when she sent a pass through the seam and found Jaques’ stick, who then sent a quick backhand just over the left pad of Campbell for her first goal of the season.
Toronto took the lead for the second time early in the second period on their first powerplay opportunity of the game. Kali Flanagan notched her second goal of the season on a one-timer from the point that sailed over the glove of Hensley. Flanagan traded passes at the blue line with Larocque before firing it into the cage through a screen. Victoria Bach picked up her second point of the season with an assist on the play.
Minnesota evened the score 2-2 midway through the frame after Kendall Coyne Schofield worked the puck deep into the Toronto zone and then sent a pass back to the point, onto the stick of Natalie Buchbinder. The right-handed defender then fired a wrister toward the net that found a path through the screen in front of Campbell. It was Buchbinder’s first goal of the season— Mellissa Channell picked up her second assist of the season on the play.
With the score 3-2 after Nurse’s first goal of the game, Toronto gave up the tying goal in the final minute of the game with the net empty at the opposite end of the ice for the second game in a row.
Jaques again found the back of the net after she received a pass at the point from forward Grace Zumwinkle and then fired a slapper from the middle of the ice toward the Toronto net. Campbell was unable to locate it through the screen as it rang off the inside of the post and into the net, sending the game into overtime – Toronto’s second consecutive outing featuring bonus hockey.
With the overtime win, Toronto moves to just one point behind Minnesota for second place—Toronto has one game in hand. Minnesota picks up one point for the overtime loss and moves to within two points of Montréal for first place.
Campbell made 27 saves to pick up her eighth win of the season. Hensley—who was playing in her second game in three nights—made 20 saves.
Up next, Toronto looks to extend their winning streak to seven games when they play in Ottawa on Saturday, March 2 at 3:30 p.m. ET. The next afternoon, Minnesota visits New York at UBS Arena for a 12:30 p.m. ET puck drop.
Postgame Quotes:
Toronto head coach Troy Ryan on his team’s play against Minnesota: “Although we won and extended our win streak to 6 games we are not overly happy with the way we showed up tonight. Two of the goals we gave up tonight were because of mentality and not skill. We sat back and played not to lose instead of having an attack mindset and playing to win. Minnesota played hard and capitalized.”
Minnesota head coach Ken Klee on scoring woes: “You know, every player goes through it— every team goes through it. It’s a challenge and there are guys in the NHL who deal with long slumps without scoring and our players are no different. They’re going to have to find a way to break through and just keep putting pucks on net.”
Notes:
- Attendance: 2,718 — 3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis, MN.
- Three Stars 1) Sarah Nurse 2) Sophie Jaques 3) Kendall Coyne Schofield
- Minnesota outshot Toronto 30-24 — They led the shot count in the third 13-4 and in OT 2-1.
- Toronto outshot Minnesota in the first period 10-6 — Shots were an even 9-9 in the second.
- Nurse led all players with five shots on goal — Minnesota’s Denisa Křížová and Toronto’s Kali Flanagan were second with four each.
- Toronto’s four shots in the third period is their lowest period total of the season.
- Toronto was 1/2 on the powerplay — Minnesota was 0/1.
- With their powerplay marker, Toronto moves to third in the league in powerplay efficiency at 9.8% — Minnesota remains in sixth with a 5.7% powerplay percentage.
- All three penalties in the game came in the second period.
- Flanagan is the first Toronto player besides Natalie Spooner to score a powerplay goal — Spooner had all three of Toronto’s PP goals heading into the game.
- This was Nurse’s first multi-goal game of the season— She’s recorded at least a point in each of Toronto’s three games against Minnesota.
- With her first two goals of the season tonight, Jaques now has three points in five games since being traded to Minnesota from Boston.
- Coyne Schofield recorded her first multi-point game of the season – She now has four points in three games against Toronto with at least one point in each of the three contests.
- Jocelyne Larocque and Renata Fast record their first multi-point games of the season, with two assists apiece.
- Fast (27:39) and Larocque (26:01) led all skaters in time on ice.
- Emma Maltais now has seven points in her last five games — She recorded two points in her first eight games of the season.
- Kelly Pannek’s assist places her into a tie for first in the category with Boston’s Alina Müller and Montréal’s Tereza Vanišová.
- Toronto’s six-game winning streak is the longest active streak in the PWHL, and longest this season.
- This is Toronto’s first overtime win of the season – They also have two shootout wins and are the only team unbeaten in games that require extra time.
- Toronto officially goes undefeated in the month of February.
- Minnesota has now lost a season-high three games in a row.
- Toronto (5-3-0-5) now has 21 points on the season, one behind Minnesota for second place — They are three points ahead of fourth place Boston.
- Minnesota (5-2-3-4) remains in second place with 22 points, two behind Montréal for first place — They’ve played one more game than Montréal and Toronto, and two more than the remaining three teams.
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