“You chose us!” Ottawa Charge beat the Montreal Victoire 2-1 to advance to the PWHL Finals!
Written by: Tyler Beauchesne
Photo by Tony Caldwell | @tonysunphoto
After Tuesday’s bounce-back victory, the Ottawa Charge return to TD Place to face off against the Montreal Victoire for the fourth game in this playoff series. With Ottawa gaining a 2-1 lead on the series, they were hoping to take it and advance to the finals for the first time in franchise history.
The first period was a decent showing by the Charge. The shot count was low, but the Charge was capitalizing on great scoring opportunities. Two minutes in, Rebecca Leslie beat Ann-Renée Desbiens off a tap-in off a rebound by Anna Meixner. It was created from a 2-on-1 rush. The hometown legend opened the scoring in front of an uproarious crowd, The environment was a glorious sight to behold in this moment.
The team was doing so well defensively, blocking shots and breaking up offensive opportunities. However, It was Gwyneth Philips standing on her head once again with beautiful saves and a locked-in mentality to keep the score 1-0 heading into the second period. She is truly the MVP of this series for Ottawa.
The next period started with the Victoire outworking the Charge, trying to tie the game up. They were lighting up Philips with shots, but she stood her ground as per usual. She was making big saves, as was Desbiens. It was another classic goalie duel between two top talents that was taking control of the game.
The Charge was so good defensively throughout the game. They killed off a penalty deep into the second period and fought off the Victoire’s intensifying effort. Their defense is what kept the score 1-0 until the period ended, but they needed a better offensive effort to defeat the Victoire.
31 seconds into the third period, Emily Clark scores to make the lead 2-0. This was a huge insurance goal however, the Victoire challenged it for a hand pass. The challenge came back as no hand pass so the goal was still in. The Charge were now 19 minutes away from a finals appearance.
“You chose us chants” were back after that goal. It was about the Victoire being the first seed choosing to face the Charge in the semi-finals, according to the PWHL playoff structure. On paper, Montreal should have had an easier time, but the Charge went on quite a heater before entering the playoffs. They struggled against a defensively fortified Charge squad that managed to shut down the likes of Marie-Philip Poulin throughout the series. It was quite a remarkable effort.
Philips then made the save of the night, going spread-eagled on a low shot, then holding off the wrap-around shot by the Victoire, which was truly immaculate stuff. This was my immediate reaction to that save, by the way:
Unfortunately, Maureen Murphy got a goal past Philips to make the score 2-1 near the end of the period, but the game was not over for the Charge. They continued to fight off the Victoire and pushed them to the very end. But at last, the Montreal Victoire’s season was over as Ottawa held off until the end to take the victory.
In their first playoff appearance, the Ottawa Charge move on to the Finals as they face the Minnesota Frost in game one on Tuesday. What a beautiful moment for this city! I am so excited for this finals matchup. The Charge have made Ottawa so proud as we cheer them on in the next round. Go Charge!
