TORONTO, ON (March 8, 2024) – Kristen Campbell made 23 saves to record her league-leading third shutout of the season, backstopping Toronto to a 3-0 victory against Montréal on Friday at Mattamy Athletic Centre, the team’s ninth straight victory.
With the victory, Campbell has won her last ten starts and sits first in the category among all PWHL goaltenders with 11 wins overall.
Toronto collects three points for the regulation win, which puts them in a tie with Montréal for first place in the PWHL with 30 points apiece. Toronto has won all three games between the two teams this season, with two 3-0 victories and one in the league’s first-ever shootout on January 20—Campbell’s first win of her current streak.
Hannah Miller made the game 1-0 just over a minute into the game, at 1:20, with her fifth of the season.
Natalie Spooner drove towards the net with speed on the play, going wide before attempting the wrap-around. Montréal goaltender Elaine Chuli got across to make the original save, but Miller found the rebound, which she put home to give her team an early lead.
With the game still 1-0 in the second period, Campbell came up with a big save to keep Montréal off the board. With Sarah Nurse in the box for tripping, the goaltender stopped Mélodie Daoust on a breakaway with just 12 seconds remaining in the frame, preserving her team’s lead heading into the second intermission.
The home team doubled their lead at 3:47 of the third period when Rebecca Leslie recorded her first PWHL goal—she entered the game with six assists.
The play began when Brittany Howard recovered the puck behind Montréal’s net and found Olivia Knowles at the point, who took a quick wrist shot. Leslie got her stick on the puck in the high slot, which changed direction and went off the far post and into the net. Knowles’ assist was her first PWHL point.
Montréal pulled Chuli with more than two minutes remaining in the game to gain a 6-on-5 advantage.
Despite consistent pressure from Montréal, Campbell made several key saves to keep the game at 2-0.
After Jocelyne Larocque headed to the box with just over a minute remaining in the game—giving Montréal a 6-on-4 advantage—Toronto forward Emma Maltais put the game away with an empty netter just nine seconds into the penalty to make the game 3-0.
Maltais utilized her speed to jump on the puck just inside Toronto’s zone before heading up the ice all alone with an empty cage. Blayre Turnbull and Allie Munroe provided the assists on the goal.
Chuli made 30 saves in the loss—her first of the season.
Up next, Montréal looks to re-claim sole possession of first place when they host Ottawa on Sunday afternoon at Place Bell. Then, on Sunday, March 17, Toronto and Montréal meet for the fourth time this season for a 12:30 p.m. ET puck drop at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh as part of the PWHL’s Takeover Weekend.
Postgame Quotes:
Toronto forward Rebecca Leslie: “It obviously felt really good, our team is crushing right now. It’s a really fun environment and I think that every day it’s fun at practice, we work hard for each other and it was a huge team win.”
Montréal forward Laura Stacey: “Those were two real physical teams out there tonight. There are still some things that we need to figure out. That’s how hockey goes. We had so many chances tonight.”
Montréal head coach Kori Cheverie: “We have three games in five days so we need to take what we can from this game and get ready for the next one.”
Notes:
- Attendance: 2,554 - Mattamy Athletic Centre, Toronto, ON.
- Three Stars: 1) Kristen Campbell 2) Rebecca Leslie 3) Elaine Chuli
- Shots ended 33-23 in favour of Toronto — They outshot Montréal in all three periods (11-8/10-8/12-7)
- Montréal’s Laura Stacey led all players with six shots — Erin Ambrose (MTL) and Victoria Bach (TOR) were second with four each.
- Both teams were 0/2 on the powerplay.
- Toronto now sits first in the PWHL in goal differential at +9 — They’ve scored a league-high 43 goals.
- Toronto captain Blayre Turnbull extends her point streak to five games (1G, 4A) and Sarah Nurse extends hers to four (2G, 4A) — Natalie Spooner is on a three-game point streak (2G, 3A).
- With one assist in the game, Spooner now has 16 points on the season and sits just one point back of co-leading-scorers Marie-Philip Poulin (MTL) and Alex Carpenter (NY).
- Nurse moves into a tie for fifth in league scoring with 12 points and Emma Maltais is now tied for seventh in the PWHL with 11 points.
- Maltais becomes the first PWHL player with two shorthanded goals — She scored the first-ever ‘jailbreak’ goal in league history on January 5 against New York.
- Hannah Miller now sits in second in goals for Toronto with five — She entered the game tied with Nurse (4).
- Elaine Chuli records her first loss after starting the season 4-1-0-0.
- The game was just the second time Chuli has allowed more than one goal against in her six starts — She allowed two goals in her season debut on January 10 against New York in a 5-2 win.
- Toronto’s Jocelyne Larocque led all players in time on ice at 28:20 - Stacey led Montréal at 27:49.
- The eight penalties in the second period are the most in a period this season in a PWHL game — Six of those minor penalties were coincidental calls at 8:06 in the frame, with three players from each team penalized.
- Montréal’s winning streak ends at three — It’s their first regulation loss since February 16 against Toronto, also a 3-0 defeat.
- Montréal has been shut out in each of their three regulation losses this season – a league-high.
- Toronto (8-3-0-5) now sits tied for first in the PWHL with Montréal with 30 points each — They become the first team to reach eight regulation wins.
- Montréal (7-3-3-3) has 30 points on the season but one less regulation victory (7) than Toronto — They sit three points ahead of Minnesota and 12 ahead of Boston.
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