PWHL Toronto won their 11th straight game taking over sole possession of first in the PWHL despite a slow start, and riding the strong play of Erica Howe.
TORONTO -- PWHL Toronto extended their streak to 11 wins in a row with a 2-1 comeback win over Boston Wednesday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
The comeback was spurred by veterans Renata Fast and Natalie Spooner in the team's close win.
Here are my thoughts on the game.
Powerplays Drive the Offense
In a year where half of the PWHL has had less than a ten percent success rate on the powerplay, it was a critical part of Toronto and Boston’s offence.
Boston was given a golden opportunity in the final seven minutes of the first period with a 5-on-3 chance. An interference call against Jocelyne Larocque and a questionable tripping call against Sarah Nurse shortly after set the stage for Sidney Morin to score her first of the season and Boston’s first of the game.
After a stagnate second period, PWHL Toronto’s offence would get a spark in the third as a Renata Fast wrist shot found its way to the back of the net on the powerplay, tying the game at one.
Shortly after, Natalie Spooner came up big again on the powerplay for Toronto as she dangled Megan Keller and fired a backhander top shelf to score the game-winning goal.
Coming into the game tonight both teams had combined for seven total goals on the player advantage this season.
Erica Howe holds the line
This season Erica Howe has seen little playing time. Coming into tonight's start she had only made one start back on January 23 in Ottawa and hadn't seen the ice since.
Despite this, with the stress of keeping the streak alive, Howe performed admirably for Toronto holding them in the game for the first two periods making countless big saves.
“She is pretty comfortable and collected in there. That's just the way she is. She just rolls with the punches,” said Fast. “I'm just so happy for her because she's been an incredible teammate this whole year and we knew that she would come in and have a performance like that tonight.”
This included a key breakaway save and a sprawling splits save in the second period to keep her team only down one heading into the final frame.
Howe was by far the busier goalie as she made 28 saves, only allowing one goal on the powerplay.
With a performance like this, it makes you wonder if head coach Troy Ryan will give more chances to the veteran netminder down the stretch to give Kristen Campbell some extra rest heading into the playoffs.
Toronto struggled to start
Even after rebounding as a team in the third period, it was evident that the legs were a little tired after Pittsburgh through Toronto’s play in the first two periods.
“I thought we were soft for 40 minutes and just didn't do what makes us successful, said Ryan. “But I love the fact that the players challenge each other in between periods and we can see a little bit of pushback from the team.”
The team was outshot 21 to 9 in the opening two periods as Boston was able to sustain long periods of offensive pressure both on and off the powerplay.
The team also took three penalties in the first period of the game leading to the goal.
Toronto knows that if they plan to be the best in the league they will need to get off to better starts, especially at home.