Blayre Turnbull led the Toronto Sceptres with a two goal performance leapfrogging into a PWHL playoff spot.
Blayre Turnbull led the Toronto Sceptres with a two goal performance leapfrogging into a PWHL playoff spot.
The Toronto Sceptres grabbed three much-needed points in the standings on Saturday before the international break, vaulting them past the Ottawa Charge on both the scoreboard and into a playoff spot.
After several games where the Sceptres played well and outshot their opponents, this time the tables were turned as the Charge outshot the home team 32-18, including 14-2 in the final period when Ottawa pressed for a tying goal. However, solid efforts from goalie Raygan Kirk, captain Blayre Turnbull, and defender Renata Fast preserved the win.
The game started a little raggedly, with neither team breaking through the neutral zone for extended offense. Some penalties were called but no one capitalized until Toronto’s first-round draft pick (sixth overall) Julia Gosling fired a hard shot past Emerance Maschmeyer late in the frame to make it 1-0.
“Every game I've been adjusting and learning from the coaches and the players around me and I think I've been getting comfortable every game,” said Gosling afterwards. “And especially on that power play there, I had the confidence to go and shoot it.”
“We seem to have lost our confidence a little bit on the PK,” said Ottawa coach Carla MacLeod, so we'll rebuild that and get that sorted. And the power play, it's getting better and better, but obviously a little confidence would happen if we could pop one or two.”
Toronto played a better second period, outshooting the Charge 11-8 and managed to come back from a tying marker scored by Emily Clark at 3:40. Turnbull pounced on a loose puck and drove to the net, tucking it past Maschmeyer to re-establish the lead.
“[This win] was huge,” said Turnbull. “I think with the timing of the break, it's really important for us. And on that note, we've been getting points, but not the three point wins that we've been wanting.
“I think we also understand that we still have a long way to go before the season's done, but there hasn't been too much frustration in the locker room. I think everyone's been feeling good about the direction that we've been moving in with how we've been playing, and we knew that the wins would come eventually and we would figure out how to score some goals.”
Renata Fast added an important marker on the power play again, after Jincy Roese went off for body checking. It was Fast’s fifth point in the last three games.
“I'm not quite sure what sort of has filtered in as far as just the confidence to execute it and block a couple of key shots,” MacLeod said of their penalty killing.
Rookie netminder Kirk was called upon to make several timely saves, and did just that as she faced a lot of screened shots and scrums, finishing with 30 saves on 32 shots.
Coach Troy Ryan said they have confidence in both goalies.
“I think we're ultimately trying to get both of them [ready]. I think this has shown us that you're going to need both of your goalies to be able to play on any given night. Right now, there's no sort of set schedule or set plan for who we're going to play. We try to assess it on the night by night basis.”
It was Turnbull again three minutes into the third period who put the team on her back and scrambled to a loose puck after taking a hit directly off a faceoff. Brianne Jenner seemed hurt and was struggling to her feet when Turnbull skated in alone and wired a shot into the back of the net to make it 4-1.
“I think that's been a bit of a mindset shift for me and just allowing myself to play a little bit more freely offensively and less perfect defensively,” explained Turnbull of her recent play.
“It’s something that I've been focusing on and I think today we went over some video about trying to find some open spaces in the offensive zone versus always trying to compete to get to space.”
Ryan was complimentary of his captain’s role: “The way she approaches the game is that she's going to do it to the best of her ability, because if she does that, there's more likely other people will follow. And ultimately everybody can say the right things, but the people that do the right things are the ones that should get rewarded. And that's what's happening right now.”
Ottawa’s Katerina Mrazova, in just her second game back from injury, scored a nice goal high over Kirk’s glove to give her team some hope, but ultimately, Toronto’s smart defensive zone play prevented any comeback.
Turnbull was named the game’s first star.