Charge’s Defensive Problems Persist Despite Changes In Montreal Rematch

The Ottawa Charge entered their second meeting in the past eleven days against the Montreal Victoire with a new-look defensive corps.

For the Charge, this marked an attempt to generate more and protect better from the backend. Heading into the game, Ottawa was allowing a league-high 32.00 shots against per game. While they’ve received outstanding goaltending through the first half of the season, that number is unsustainable, especially for a team with championship aspirations.

Ottawa’s need to address its defensive play became clear in its previous outing against New York. The Charge surrendered three unanswered goals before Sarah Wozniewicz scored the overtime winner. They were able to outscore their defensive issues on that night, but relying on that formula is risky and unlikely to hold up over the course of a season.

Despite the changes, the outcome today remained the same. Here’s why.

As with any good home, a solid foundation is key to ensuring everything built upon it is strong. The same principle applies here, and this is where Ottawa’s problems begin. All too often, the Charge struggle to box out and appear averse to consistent net-front presence in the defensive zone. This game continued that trend.

On multiple occasions, Montreal gained inside positioning on Ottawa defenders and created several high-danger scoring chances, sometimes generating second and third looks. When one layer of Ottawa’s defensive structure breaks down, the rest tends to follow, leaving the team reliant on goaltending to clean up mistakes rather than preventing them in the first place.

Ottawa’s difficulty exiting the zone with control continues to define too many of its games, and this matchup was no exception. Whether attempting to skate the puck out or clear it under pressure, the result was often the same.

The defence has consistently been good at blocking shots but struggles to convert those moments into clean exits. Ottawa’s apparent pass-first mentality only compounded the issue. Several attempted clears resulted in extended zone time for Montreal because the Charge did not hold the puck and make a decisive, tape-to-tape pass out of their zone. That was also a result of Montreal’s strong forecheck, but not an excuse.

Struggling to exit the defensive zone with control, the Charge found it difficult to enter the offensive zone with support, limiting sustained pressure. In the second period, which was the Charge’s strongest, there were multiple instances where Rebecca Leslie or Wozniewicz resorted to carrying the puck up ice themselves, only to find no immediate support. So just as quickly as Ottawa gained the zone, play turned back the other way, and the pattern repeated itself.

Ottawa lost its second game in a row to Montreal, and could easily have been on a three-game losing streak if it hadn’t outscored its defensive problems. And despite the changes made, without addressing the underlying structural issues, the outcomes are likely to remain the same as the team enters the second half of the season.