Emerance Maschmeyer and PWHL Ottawa were five minutes away from cruising to a dominant shutout win when PWHL New York found the back of the net. And then again. And again. In less than two minutes, the score was even.
In overtime, New York forward and league-leading scorer Alex Carpenter sealed the deal with her second of the night, handing Ottawa a shocking 4-3 home loss Feb. 4. Ottawa is now 0-4 in overtime this season and the first team to surrender a three-goal lead in PWHL history.
“This one stings,” Ottawa head coach Carla MacLeod said. “When you’ve gone into overtime as often as we have and haven’t found success yet, there’s a bit of a hurdle there collectively.”
The collapse was swift and the overtime was remarkably lopsided, but Ottawa players aren’t putting any stock in the game’s ending.
“That’s a little bit of a mental block,” Ottawa defender Savannah Harmon said. “But I think we’re gonna be fine next time.”
Heading into the matchup, both teams were tied at the bottom of the PWHL standings with nine points each. Ottawa and New York both dropped their previous two games and looked to turn things around to kick off the PWHL’s second month.
A sold-out crowd of 8,062 fans packed into TD Place Arena to witness the Sunday afternoon tilt. The stands were packed with hundreds of supportive signs floating in a sea of excited fans.
“Our fans are absolutely incredible,” Harmon said. “I think they’re the best fans in the league.”
With the crowd behind their backs, Ottawa pushed early on the offensive. Forward Daryl Watts was dangerous with her elite puck-handling ability, weaving around New York’s defence to create several scoring chances.
Seven minutes into the frame, New York netminder Corinne Schroeder robbed Ottawa forward Emily Clark on a breakaway chance. Clark recovered the puck to feed defender Aneta Tejralová for a point one-timer, which rocketed to the top-right corner of the net to claim the early lead for Ottawa.
Harmon scored a hat trick during the PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase at the NHL All-Star Weekend in Toronto just three days prior, so it was no surprise her confidence was soaring against New York.
She created opportunities and routinely won puck battles along the boards. Late in the first period, she drew a penalty on New York defender Jaime Bourbonnais while streaking behind the opposing net with possession.
Although Ottawa failed to capitalize on the ensuing power play, the emergence of Harmon, the fifth overall selection in the PWHL draft, was encouraging for the home team.
The game’s physicality ramped up in the second period as Ottawa forward Becca Gilmore took a slashing penalty to give New York their first power play of the game. In tandem with Ottawa’s penalty kill unit, Maschmeyer stifled New York’s best players.
Later, Ottawa fan favourite and leading goal scorer Lexie Adzija broke into the offensive zone but was held and brought to the ground by New York defender Brooke Hobson. Ottawa received a power play with just over three minutes remaining in the period, igniting the crowd.
However, the referee had mistakenly blown the whistle early, which led to the goal being disallowed.
“The ref thought she saw what she saw,” MacLeod said. “She’s just a human doing her job out there.”
It was Adzija’s team-leading fourth goal of the season, further cementing her role as Ottawa’s most reliable goal scorer early in the season.
“I’m playing with some incredible players that are finding me and getting pucks to the net,” Adzija said post game. “I was just going hard for the puck, that’s my game.”
Adzija has been held pointless just once in seven games this season, thanks to her superb offensive instincts on and off the puck. She consistently places herself in the right areas to score and sneaks in and out of defensive coverage with ease.
With 11 minutes remaining in the third, Watts teed up a Harmon one-timer in the slot to take a commanding 3-0 lead.
Ottawa’s dominant performance thus far seemed enough to run out the clock and earn the Sunday afternoon home win. But New York had other plans.
“We don’t really care how many goals we’re down, we just keep playing to the very end,” Carpenter said.
The swing in momentum arrived with five minutes remaining in the game as New York forward Abby Roque buried a rebound from Bourbonnais. Only a minute later, Ottawa’s defence fell apart, leaving Maschmeyer out to dry as New York forward Jade Downie-Landry slipped the puck through Maschmeyer’s wickets for another goal.
Then, just over 30 seconds later, Adzija took an untimely boarding penalty.
With her team visibly reeling, MacLeod called a time out while they still held a one-goal lead, hoping to stop the bleeding before it was too late.
However, not even 30 seconds into New York’s power play, Roque found herself alone again in front of Maschmeyer where she waited patiently until Maschmeyer committed to a shot.
“She’s an aggressive goalie and she’s smaller, so she kind of has to play like that,” Roque said. “I’ve known that about her.”
Maschmeyer was sprawled over the ice as Roque fed Carpenter for an empty-net tap-in, completing New York’s massive comeback.
In the dying minutes of regulation, Ottawa narrowly held off New York’s offence to force overtime, which has meant bad news for Ottawa so far this season.
In the extra frame, Ottawa could not gain possession, let alone change the momentum as they chased New York. This was until Carpenter silenced the anxious home crowd once again with a wrist-shot bullet from distance to serve Ottawa their fourth overtime loss of the season.
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For New York, who has struggled to post consistent results, the comeback win was encouraging.
“The belief in our room is so strong and it finally showed today,” Carpenter said.
On Ottawa’s side, the collapse was devastating. According to MacLeod, it’s just growing pains.
“You gotta learn from it,” she said.
Following the upset, PWHL Ottawa sits tied with PWHL Boston in the league’s basement while their losing streak grows to three games. Next they turn to high-octane PWHL Minnesota for their first trip to Xcel Energy Center Feb. 14.
Featured image by Angel Xing/The Charlatan.
