Charge 5, Sirens 1
The oldest player in the Professional Women’s Hockey League put on a clinic at a sold-out TD Place Saturday afternoon.
She showed her Ottawa Charge teammates, the New York Sirens, and the 8,605 fans in attendance what desire and will look like.
With the score tied 1-1 before the midpoint mark of the second period and the Sirens on a power play, Jocelyne Larocque made a big defensive play, sliding to block a point-blank shot by Maja Nilan Persson.
Just 10 seconds later, she hustled down ice and converted the rebound of a well-placed shot by Brianne Jenner on a two-on-one break for not just the winning goal, but her first goal of this season, the second of her 60 games (counting playoffs) with the Charge and only the third of her 81-game PWHL career.
The Charge went on to score a second short-handed (a.k.a. “jailbreak”) goal on a similarly outstanding effort by rookie Peyton Hemp less than seven minutes later en route to a convincing 5-1 win that put Ottawa in the driver’s seat for a playoff spot heading into the final week of the season.
“I’m not sure how many seasons I have left, and I want to win a Walter Cup,” the 37-year-old defender Larocque said after the victory in front of what was a record crowd at the Charge’s Bank Street home. “And I feel like, with this team, we can.”
What did the win do for Ottawa’s pursuit of a playoff spot?
The regulation time win gave the Charge 39 points, five more than the Sirens and the Toronto Sceptres in the race for the fourth and final post-season berth.
Toronto has three games left on its schedule, while Ottawa and New York have two remaining.
The last two games of the season for the Charge are Wednesday in Boston, where the Fleet is trying to overtake the Montreal Victoire for first place, and next Saturday at home to Toronto in what could be a win-or-go-home showdown.
The Sceptres visit the Minnesota Frost on Sunday, then host the Sirens on Tuesday before clashing with the Charge at TD Place next Saturday.
The Sirens also finish their season with a road game against Boston that same day.
Asked if it felt as if the Charge was in a comfortable spot in chasing that last playoff spot, Larocque replied:
“Yes, but no, if that makes sense. We still have that playoff mentality, so, going into our next game against Boston, we’re still thinking and wanting those three points and doing whatever we can to get them. The cushion is nice, but nobody’s going to play like we have a cushion.”
Charge captain Brianne Jenner crosses in front of Sirens goaltender Kayle Osborne in pursuit of the puck in PWHL action at TD Place in Ottawa on Saturday.
How tough was it for the Sirens to bounce back from consecutive jailbreak goals?
To score her second goal of the season, Hemp came from behind to outrace two Sirens players and create a loose puck along the right-wing boards.
It was gobbled up by penalty-killing partner Alexa Vasko, who sent a pass back to Kemp for a tap-in as she charged to the net.
“We weren’t able to turn the page and get back to our game,” New York coach Greg Fargo said. “I thought Ottawa gained some momentum from those plays, and they were able to hold on to it the rest of the game.”
The Charge now has three jailbreak goals on the season, tied with New York for the league lead.
How did the start of the game go?
Ottawa carried the play early in its next-to-last home game, outshooting New York 12-8 in the opening period, but the Sirens struck first when Paetyn Levis slid a shot past Gwyneth Philips with 25 seconds left in a penalty to Charge defender Stephanie Markowski.
The home side responded shortly after defender Ronja Savolainen clanged a shot from the blue-line off the post behind New York keeper Kayle Osborne.
There were 61 seconds left in the period when Brianne Jenner’s shot from the left-wing circle deflected off a New York defender and went in off the right arm of Leslie, but it was at least five agonizing minutes later before the officials ruled that it was indeed a good goal.
It was the 13th goal of the season for Leslie, leaving her one shy of the PWHL goal-scoring leader, Minnesota’s Kelly Pannek.
Jaime Bourbonnais, left, of the Sirens and Alexa Vasko (10) of the Charge skate after the puck in PWHL action at TD Place in Ottawa on Saturday.
How was the Charge able to protect a two-goal lead going into the third period?
The key was the play of Philips, who was again a sturdy backbone in stopping a total of 23 shots in the game and all eight she faced in the third period.
Also by not sitting back.
Ottawa, which also had eight shots in the third, scored the only two goals of the period.
One was the fourth of the season for Savolainen, and the other was Jenner’s 11th, the rebound of a Larocque shot that had gone off the crossbar.
Jenner also had a pair of assists, as did Emily Clark, who also played another strong game.
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