Hughes' Late Goal Lifts Ottawa To Regulation Win

Gabbie Hughes scored a third period marker that lifted PWHL Ottawa to a 4-2 regulation win over PWHL New York.

With a 4-2 win over New York, Ottawa snapped their two-game losing streak in their return home after a three-game road trip. A late goal by Gabbie Hughes gave them the go-ahead goal, and the team wrapped the game up with an empty net goal with 4 seconds left on the clock. Ottawa has struggled to contain leads this season, but will take the important three points.

“It doesn’t have to be easy and it was certainly well earned,” Hughes said. “It was probably a little bit more up and down so finding that consistency will be the next step.”

Like most games this year, Ottawa’s pace was fast in the first period. To open the scoring, Savannah Harmon, who lead all players with 27:16 played, picked up off a pass in the neutral zone. After entering the zone, Harmon, almost on the goal line, took a chance at a shot on Abigail Levy. The play was whistled down, and it looked like the end of the shift. But Harmon and Becca Gilmore were adamant that the puck crossed the goal line. After another look, the referees deemed it as a goal, giving Ottawa a 1-0 lead early. It turned out that the puck squeaked in past the left pad of Levy. Ottawa finished the first period with a shot advantage of 10-5.

Ottawa ran into some penalty trouble in the first half of the second period, including minors to Katerina Mrazova and Jincy Roese. On the Roese penalty, an Amanda Boulier blocked shot sent numbers back the other way, giving Ottawa a 3-on-1 opportunity. Fanni Gasparics fired a shot but had it blocked by Ella Shelton. However, the puck came back to the forward, and she put it past Levy for the 2-0 lead. Another jailbreak goal was given to Ottawa, which was their third on the year. It was also Gasparics’ first goal of the season, and it couldn’t have arrived at a better time. The 29-year-old has played around the world before, but she is only one of two Hungarian players playing in the PWHL.

“There were some Hungarian fans out there,” she said. “I love our home crowd and to see some Hungarian flags, it feels even more great.”

Shortly after, New York struck back. Zoe Boyd sent an outlook pass up the ice, but her stick broke right in front of Emerance Maschmeyer. The puck went right onto the stick of Chloe Aurard, who put the puck past Maschmeyer. Though New York had the latest goal, Ottawa still had a 2-1 lead heading into the third.

As the third period picked up, so did New York, outshooting Ottawa 8-3 in the first half. Her second minor of the game, a Roese tripping penalty sent the Ottawa back to the penalty kill. A trip on Gabbie Hughes would go uncalled, and New York came out with the puck. Alex Carpenter fed a pass to Jaime Bourbonnais, who sniped a shot past Maschmeyer to tie the game at two apiece.

Ottawa however, wasn't done. Amanda Boulier, who had been levelled earlier in the game on a hit from behind from Abby Roque, picked off a breakout pass before finding Gabbie Hughes who roofed a backhand shot for the winner. With time winding down, Lexie Adzija hit the empty net to cap the scoring.