PWHL Toronto failed to get out of the gate well, and couldn't find ways to finish in their game four loss to PWHL Minnesota. The series now goes to a deciding game five.
PWHL Toronto failed to get out of the gate well, and couldn't find ways to finish in their game four loss to PWHL Minnesota. The series now goes to a deciding game five.
PWHL Toronto are shut out again as they fall 1-0 in double overtime to PWHL Minnesota, forcing a fifth and final game.
Here's a look at how it happened for Toronto:
Slow Start Again
PWHL Toronto got out to a sluggish start of the game. The entire team regularly missed routine passes that would be turned over to Minnesota.
Minnesota controlled the play for the majority of the the first period creating multiple high quality scoring chances that Kristen Campbell would save.
In the first periods of game three and four Toronto was held to just five shots on net.
Similar to another hockey team from Toronto it seems in these last two games this group has been unable to start on time for these elimination games.
With Minnesota's season on the line Toronto needed to come out hungrier to beat them and for the first 40 minutes, Toronto failed to do that.
“We need to be on our toes from the start of the game,” said Renata Fast. “As soon as we were playing with that attack mentality and when we were getting pucks below their goal line we were able to create chances and hem them in their own end.”
Offense dries up
Simply put Toronto couldn’t give Maddie Rooney much work in this game.
Through the first four periods Toronto could not find new ways to get around Minnesota’s defense as they averaged just 4.25 shots a period. Giving Toronto few opportunities to create offensively.
Even when they had chances, Toronto could not capitalize. Kaitlin Willoughby’s third period one timer and two quality chances in the second overtime from Sarah Nurse and Emma Maltais could not find the back of the net. In the end that is what led to their loss Wednesday night.
These two road games are polar opposite from their games in Toronto. For the most part the offense was predictable and lacked any variance in their attack.
If Toronto is to avoid the reverse sweep they will need to sustain more offensive zone time while also showing variety in the way they attack Rooney.
Campbell returns to form
After allowing two goals she would probably like to have back on Monday night, Kristen Campbell put on another strong performance and was one of the only reasons the game made it to double overtime.
“We have grown to expect that from Soupy,” said Ryan. “She made the saves she needed to early on to keep us in that game.”
In the first period alone, Campbell had to be on her toes making big stops against Grace Zumwinkle on a break and Taylor Heise from in tight. Even the overtime winner is one that you can’t blame Campbell for as a funky bounce allowed a lone Claire Butorac to find the back of the net on the game winner.
Through five periods Campbell stopped 28 of Minnesota’s 29 shots while posting a .971 save percentage during the series.
If there was one thing good about Toronto's performance throughout the game it was Kristen Campbell’s play.