Things to watch for as Ottawa Charge tries to take command of PWHL final
In last year's semifinal against Toronto, Minnesota was blanked in the first two games by scores of 4-0 and 2-0, but came back to win the next two at Xcel Energy Center with 2-0 and 1-0 shutouts of its own before taking the deciding game 4-1 in Toronto.
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Minnesota lost the first game of the 2024 final against Boston 4-3, took the second game 3-0 and Game 3 by a 4-1 count, lost Game 4 1-0, then won the title with a 3-0 triumph.
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This year, the Frost fell 3-2 to the Toronto Sceptres in the first game, then roared back to win the next three by scores of 5-3, 7-5 and 4-3.
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'We're definitely not trying to play from behind … It's just one of those things,' Frost coach Ken Klee said Wednesday. 'It's a long series. Playoffs are tough. It's tough to win games. It's the spot we found ourselves in in the past and, unfortunately, we're in it again, but, again, it's a long series. It's the first team to win three, and we know that. We did some good things (Tuesday) night and we know we need to clean up some things. We'll be looking forward to that (Thursday).'
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Ottawa's shutdown line of Clark, Gabbie Hughes and Mannon McMahon was at it again on Tuesday.
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In fact, those three, along with the blue-line pairing of Jocelyne Larocque and Ashton Bell was even more effective against the Frost big guns than it had been against Montreal's Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey and Jen Gardiner in the first round.
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While the Victoire line was able to put a sufficient amount of rubber on goal, Minnesota's top unit of Taylor Heise, Kendall Coyne Schofield and Michela Cava — which combined for 16 points against the Sceptres — was blanked in Game 1 while managing a total of just six shots.
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Clark and Leslie have accounted for all the Charge offence in the past two games, each scoring once in the identical 2-1 victories.
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As far as Clark goes, it's not much of a surprise.
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Along with her dogged checking, she has 15 goals and 23 assists in 59 regular-season and playoff PWHL games combined.
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Lesie, the hometown girl, has six goals and nine assists in 61 games.
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'I think the confidence has caught up to her skill level,' Charge head coach Carla MacLeod said. 'I think Becca Leslie has been a great player in women's hockey for a long time, and she's been a great player for us all season. It's just now with that added confidence, she's been able to shoot the puck a few times and she's obviously got a great shot. So it's always nice to see players be rewarded, and I think she's one that's just continued to grow with the game and grow with the league, and she's had a nice little postseason here for us.'
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Minnesota is a -105 underdog in Game 2 and +184 to successfully defend its Walter Cup hold.
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