Toronto's Stars Begin To Find Their Way

Blayre Turnbull, Renata Fast, and Kristen Campbell turned things around, and Natalie Spooner continued her strong play as Toronto's stars found their way against Minnesota.

Natalie Spooner lead the way as Toronto toppled Minnesota 4-1 in an afternoon clash. Two goals and an assist from Spooner, along with Renata Fast and Blayre Turnbull’s first goals of the season helped Toronto soar over Minnesota on Saturday.

Here are takeaways from the game:

For a team that has lacked consistency offensively, Spooner has been there game in and game out picking up her teammates with strong offensive performance.

This was no different on Saturday as Spooner scored two more goals in Toronto’s win, giving her seven goals on the season, the most of any player in the league.

On top of this, Spooner picked up her first assist of the season setting up Turnbull’s goal in the third to add to her two goals.

There is no taking for granted how dominant Spooner has been as she now has two multi-goal games under her belt. Simply put, she can not be stopped right now.

A point that head coach Troy Ryan has continued to preach to his team is keeping possession of the puck in the offensive zone.

The run-and-gun offence style Toronto has played this season was cast aside for a more sustained offensive presence in Minnesota’s zone. Toronto dominated puck possession for the first 10 minutes of the opening frame, routinely trapping Minnesota in their zone for minutes at a time.

Toronto continued to create offensive chances with sustained zone time after Kendall Coyne Schofield’s goal in the second period. That zone time allowed them to gain multiple scoring chances and a power play late in the period.

A big talking point for Toronto heading into the this afternoon has been their lack of offensive production.

This is especially true when looking at the key players in the core of this team like Blayre Turnbull and Sarah Nurse.

That changed this afternoon in the second period when Renata Fast scored her first goal of the season to take back the lead for Toronto.

The afternoon of firsts would continue as Blayre Turnbull beautifully tipped a pass from Spooner past Nicole Hensley, scoring her first of the season.

“We want everyone on our team to get rolling and get scoring, so for her (Turnbull) to get that one it was super exciting,” said Spooner. “I think our line too was like, let's get going, let's get some pucks in it and for us to get that next one it just felt good.”

The go ahead goal from assistant captain Fast and the additional marker from the captain were critical, taking pressure off of the team as well as Spooner to do all of the scoring.

After posting a shutout in Toronto’s last game against New York, Kristen Campbell was solid again on Saturday.

Campbell faced 25 Minnesota shots only allowing a goal that deflected off of Coyne Schofield's back and into the net.

Other than that she was rock solid, flashing the glove multiple times throughout the game and making some key saves on the penalty kill.

These performances have helped Toronto as they try to ascend the league standings. If they are to do this, Campbell must continue to be steady and improve as the season progresses.

“I think she made some big saves on a couple of opportunities,” said Ryan. “Goaltenders are like any player, when you play with confidence things tend to go well for you.”