The Ottawa Charge is on the verge of returning to the Walter Cup final for the second consecutive season.
After earning a dramatic win over the Boston Fleet on Friday night that was capped with the late game-winner bouncing off the end boards and into the net, the Charge is back in the driver’s seat with a 2-1 advantage in the best-of-five series.
The Charge can clinch the series Sunday back in front of a home crowd at the Canadian Tire Centre. Game time is 3 p.m.
With less than 48 hours between Games 3 and 4, Charge head coach Carla MacLeod said that Saturday’s focus would be on recovery.
“We’ll come in, we’ll make sure we still get together, make sure they’re getting what they need from a recovery perspective,” MacLeod said after Game 3. “We’ll do a little bit of video. Some might hit the ice, but, ultimately, it’s just getting us in the right frame of mind and physically ready to go again on Sunday.”
Let’s take a look at some of the keys for success for the Charge heading into Game 4.
Ride the momentum
Suddenly Boston finds itself in a must-win situation to keep its Walter Cup hopes alive.
This has to mean that Fleet players will come out desperate with their season on the line, making it critical for the Charge to start strong and capitalize on any mistakes that desperation hockey has been known to create.
Ottawa has shown a tendency to ease off the gas in early clinching opportunities. Just look at the regular season: When the Charge could have clinched a ticket to the postseason with a regulation win in its second-last game, it instead left things to the very last game.
With the momentum on their side and the roaring crowd behind them, Charge players need to go pedal to the metal and come out swinging in Game 4.
Ottawa Charge netminder Gwyneth Philips makes a glove save against the Boston Fleet during the third period of Game 3 at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa Friday.
PWHL playoff precedent is on Ottawa’s side. Before this postseason, all four teams that won Game 3 of a series tied 1-1 went on to win the series. The Charge contributed to that trend last season, winning Games 3 and 4 of the semifinal against the Montreal Victoire.
Still, anyone familiar with MacLeod knows no one in Ottawa’s locker room is focused on those numbers.
“We know there’s a lot of hockey left,” she said. “You know the series, and it’s hard at this time of the year, but it’s fun.”
Keep getting on the board first
The Charge has managed to score the opening goal in all three games of this semifinal series. It’s an impressive feat considering the Fleet opened the scoring in a league-high 23 of 30 regular-season contests, including three of four meetings with Ottawa.
What’s Ottawa’s secret? Well, according to MacLeod, there isn’t one.
“You’ve just got to shoot a hockey puck. Good things happen,” she said. “It’s just trying to generate offense from any angle that you can early on, and it sort of allows your team to settle in.”
The Ottawa Charge’s Sarah Wozniewicz tries to get the puck past netminder Aerin Frankel of the Boston Fleet during first-period action in Game 3 at the Canadian Tire Centre on Friday.
In Game 4, this fast-start approach is perhaps the most important key to success. If Ottawa can push the Fleet, already on the brink of elimination, further onto its heels, the Charge would be in a strong position to close out the series.
Boston, however, certainly won’t give up the opening goal easily. Fleet head coach Kris Sparre said opening the scoring was also a major priority for his team.
“That’s something we’d certainly like to change. The puck goes in the net and it’s never fun playing from behind,” he said.
Close the shot differential
Shot differentials tell a very different story from the scoreboard in this series.
Ottawa has been outshot by 10 or more in all three games, with Game 3 featuring the widest gap at 37-22.
So why aren’t the Fleet’s high shot totals translating into more results?
Enter Gwyneth Philips.
The 25-year-old Charge netminder has unquestionably been the best player on the ice in all three games. She leads all goalies in this PWHL postseason with a remarkable 1.34 goals-against average and a .958 save percentage.
Ottawa Charge goaltender Gwyneth Philips makes a diving save against the Boston Fleet during the second period of Game 3 at the Canadian Tire Centre on Friday.
While Philips has repeatedly proven she can handle 30-plus shots on any given night, the Charge can certainly do more to prevent the ice from tilting so heavily in Boston’s favour, and that starts with adopting a shot-first mentality.
“We had moments where we could have gotten pucks towards the net, on the net, and we chose to make a pass, or we just didn’t fire it,” MacLeod said. “It’s always going to be this cat-and-mouse game out there because both teams are really good, but we need to have a shooting mentality.”
The Charge now has a perfect example of the things that can happen when you put the puck on net — even if it takes a strange bounce off the end boards and the opposing goaltender along the way.
“Good things happen when you shoot a hockey puck in our game,” MacLeod said. “We’ll just keep leaning into that and having that mantra, and hopefully we’ll get a few more in that direction.”
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