Teams meet for second time in four days in mini home-and-home series
OTTAWA, ON (February 17, 2024) – The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) schedule continues with a pair of Saturday afternoon matchups, including Ottawa against Minnesota, at 2:00 p.m. ET at The Arena at TD Place.
WHERE TO WATCH
Fans in Canada can tune-in live on Sportsnet 360 and stream on Sportsnet+. United States viewers can watch live on Bally Sports North, the Bally Sports app on mobile and tablet devices (including iOS and Android), ballysports.com when fans authenticate using their pay-TV credentials, and on Bally Sports+, the standalone streaming subscription service available from Bally Sports. The game is also available on Sportsnet Pittsburgh and the league’s YouTube channel. Daniella Ponticelli has the play-by-play call alongside analyst Saroya Tinker.
SETTING THE STAGE
Two teams at opposite ends of the standings meet for the second time in four days. Minnesota (4-2-2-2) is in first place with 18 points and Ottawa (2-0-4-2) is in sixth place with 10 points. Ottawa is searching for its first win since Jan. 23 when they defeated Toronto 3-1 on home ice. That result also stands as their only win in five games so far at TD Place. Their four-game losing streak consists of four one-goal games, including a 3-2 loss to Boston on Jan. 24, a 2-1 overtime loss in Montréal on Jan. 27, a 4-3 overtime loss to New York on Feb. 4, and Wednesday’s 2-1 loss in Minnesota. Last game gave Minnesota its first regulation win in seven games and victory on home ice in three appearances since defeating Toronto 3-1 on Jan. 10. They’ve won three of their five road games so far this season, including a 3-2 overtime win over Ottawa on Jan. 17 in their first trip to Canada’s capital. Today is also the first of consecutive road games for Minnesota who will play Montréal tomorrow afternoon at Place Bell. They will return to face Ottawa one more time this season on Apr. 20.
THE SEASON SERIES SO FAR
Minnesota’s collected five of a possible six points in two meetings so far this season – both comeback wins. On Wednesday night it was a third period tally by Maggie Flaherty that was the difference, breaking a 1-1 score with her first goal of the season. Abby Boreen had a goal and an assist, and Maddie Rooney stopped 23 of 24 shots faced to secure the win. Ottawa’s lone goal came from defender Amanda Boulier with her first of the season to open the scoring. Emerance Maschmeyer stopped 22 of 24 in defeat. Back on Jan. 17, it was the recently traded Susanna Tapani (BOS) who scored twice including the game-winner in Minnesota’s 3-2 overtime triumph at The Arena at TD Place. Grace Zumwinkle also led the team offensively with a goal and one assist as Minnesota erased a 2-0 deficit. Savannah Harmon and Lexie Adzija scored their first goals of the season in that contest for Ottawa.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Minnesota’s Kendall Coyne Schofield has the longest active point streak in the PWHL at four games, scoring two goals and two assists in that span. She is fifth in team scoring with five points in 10 games. Kelly Pannek’s seven assists are now tied for the league-lead and her eight points are tied for the team lead. She’s riding a three-game point streak that includes four assists. Grace Zumwinkle (6G 2A) also has eight points for a share of the team lead but has been held off the scoresheet in three straight games. Defender Sophie Jaques picked up an assist, her first of the season, in her Minnesota debut on Wednesday. Lexie Adzija (4G 2A) leads Ottawa with six points in eight games, followed by defender Savannah Harmon (2G 3A) with five points. Hayley Scamurra (2G 2A) is one of four players with four points but had her three-game point streak snapped on Wednesday. She continues to lead the team with 27 shots on goal. Emerance Maschmeyer is the league’s only goaltender to appear in every one of her team’s games this season and will make her eighth start this afternoon.
TOP SCORING DEFENSE
Ottawa’s top-six defenders have a collective 20 points which leads all PWHL teams by a significant margin, with New York’s blue line next at 14 points. Ottawa is the only team to have a top-six corps that have all registered a point this season – with each player already producing multi-point totals. Savannah Harmon (2G 3A) leads the way with five points, followed by Amanda Boulier (1G 3A), Ashton Bell (4A), Zoe Boyd (3A), Aneta Tejralová (1G 1A), and Jincy Roese (2A).
STATS TO KNOW
Special teams could be a factor in today’s game as Ottawa leads the PWHL in powerplay efficiency at 28% and Minnesota ranks fifth in penalty kill at 79.3%. On the flip side, Ottawa’s penalty kill unit is last in the PWHL at 76.5%, however Minnesota’s powerplay is only operating at an 8% efficiency. Minnesota’s only two powerplay goals this season have been scored against Ottawa, one in each game, and Minnesota’s lone shorthanded goal of the season was scored at TD Place.
ON THIS DAY
Back on Feb. 17, 2019, the inaugural Rivalry Series between the Canadian and U.S. National Women’s Teams came to an end with Canada winning the game-three finale 2-0. Ottawa captain Brianne Jenner scored the winning goal in what was the decisive matchup between the competing nations. The game was played at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena before a crowd of 9,048 – the same venue that will host Ottawa next month, Mar. 16, when they take on Boston.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
“Every game has been a one goal game. That just shows you how close the games are. It won’t change. For us, it’s just a mentality. I think you are going to see a lot more physicality from us (Saturday). You will see more aggressiveness. They have some good offense on their team. That will help shut that down.” – Emerance Maschmeyer, Ottawa
“We’re in every game. I would say, probably, a little more lackluster last game. Maybe we were a little bit tired. We didn’t see the same jump. We were able to dig into some video (Friday). We figured out a couple of key ingredients that, hopefully, will pay off moving forward, whether it is (Saturday) or for the rest of the season. It’s a process. If they all came out of the gate and they were all perfect, I’m not sure I would have a job, because nobody would need a coach!” – Carla MacLeod, Ottawa
“It (first PWHL point) definitely felt good, we had worked on the powerplay in practice. I was excited to get out there and happy we were able to get on the board with it. The chemistry, definitely it’s been great to have time to get to know the girls better. I think Ottawa will be another good game, so I’m excited to go there with them.” – Sophie Jaques, Minnesota
“It’s exciting for both sides (to play back-to-back). I mean it was an even game and both teams had chances there. It was kind of back-and-forth and you know the game could have gone either way but we capitalized when could.” – Ken Klee, Minnesota
QUICK HITS
Minnesota (+3) is first in goal differential and Ottawa (even) is tied for third…Ottawa (2.38) is third in goals-per-game average and Minnesota (2.30) ranks fifth…Minnesota (2.00) allows the fewest goals-per-game and Ottawa (2.38) allows the third most on average…Ottawa has scored the game’s first goal six times and Minnesota has scored first in five of their games…Ottawa (9) and Minnesota (8) lead the PWHL in first period scoring…Ottawa has lost all six of its one-goal games this season…Ottawa (+39) is first in shot differential and Minnesota (+9) ranks tied for third…Ottawa (31.13) is first in shots-per-game average and Minnesota (28.20) ranks fourth…Ottawa (26.25) allows the second fewest shots-per-game on average and Minnesota (27.30) allows the third most…Ottawa (7/25) is first in powerplay efficiency at 28%…Minnesota (2/25) ranks fifth on the PP at 8%…Minnesota (23/29) ranks fifth on the penalty kill at 79.3%…Ottawa (13/17) is sixth on the PK at 76.5%…Grace Zumwinkle (MIN) is tied for second in the league with six goals…Kelly Pannek (MIN) is tied for the league-lead with seven assists…Ottawa’s Lexie Adzija and Hayley Scamurra are tied for second in the league with two powerplay goals…Adzija and Zumwinkle are tied for the league-lead with one shorthanded goal…Lee Stecklein (MIN) is tied for second in scoring among defenders with six points…Savannah Harmon (OTT) is tied for second in goals among defenders with two…Stecklein leads the league with 12 penalty minutes…Zumwinkle leads Minnesota with 39 shots on goal…Scamurra leads Ottawa with 27 shots on goal… Brianne Jenner (70/130) leads Ottawa in face-off percentage at 53.8% and has also taken the most draws…Pannek (82/152) leads Minnesota in face-off percentage at 53.9%…Taylor Heise (53.4%) has also taken the most draws with 163…Emerance Maschmeyer (OTT) has two wins in eight games with a 2.17 goals-against-average and .914 save percentage…Nicole Hensley (MIN) is tied for second with four wins and carries a 1.98 GAA and a .934 SV% that ranks third.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
OTTAWA:
Clark | Hughes | Scamurra
Watts | Mrázová | Jenner
Adzija | Snodgrass | Shiga
Gasparics | Della Rovere | Gilmore
Harmon | Bell
Tejralová | Boulier
Roese | Boyd
Maschmeyer | Abstreiter
Scratches: Buckles, Grant-Mentis, McQuigge
MINNESOTA:
Coyne Schofield | Pannek | Butorac
Křížová | Cava | Zumwinkle
Fleming | Schepers | Kunin
Bryant | DeGeorge | Kremer
Stecklein | Jaques
Flaherty | Buchbinder
Greco | Channell
Hensley | Rooney
Scratches: Bench, Brodt, Heise, Leveille
OFFICIALS:
Referees: Jenn Berezowski (Quinte West, ON) and Jack Hennigan (Halton Hills, ON).
Linespersons: Melissa Brunn (Kelowna, BC) and Jarrett Burton (Kingston, ON).
Follow the league on all social media platforms @thepwhlofficial plus team accounts @pwhl_minnesota and pwhl_ottawa.
