Ottawa club closing in on final PWHL playoff berth
Four months after playing its first PWHL game at The Arena at TD Place against Montreal, Ottawa can clinch the league's last playoff spot with a regulation time win against the same opponent at the same venue Saturday afternoon.
And if this one happens to go into overtime too, well, at least Ottawa has that proverbial monkey off its back.
“It wasn't really a topic, surprisingly,” Emily Clark, Ottawa's best player in a 3-2 shootout win over Boston on Wednesday, said after her team improved its record in overtime games to 1-6. “Obviously, we know what the numbers are. I think you've just got to look at the other times that we didn't end up on the right side in getting those points in those games. As we're seeing, every point matters at this point. It definitely feels nice to be on the other end of the 65 (minutes) this time around.”
Had Ottawa won just half of the first six that lasted longer than three periods, Saturday's game might be for a share of first place rather than into a tie for third. But as they say, it is what it is. And with four straight wins, Ottawa is the hottest team in the PWHL.
“I think we're in a really good spot and a good groove,” said Clark, whose team owns the first two tiebreakers with Boston. “It started before the long (three and a half week) break and I'm really proud of the girls that were at the world championships but also the girls that were here. Obviously they worked their tails off to to be in really good shape for us to get back. We're all fine and got reconnected right away, which is awesome. I just think that we have such a special group, and we got that win together, which I think is a really good sign moving forward.”
Clinching a post-season berth with Montreal as the opponent is definitely doable.
Montreal is tied for first place with Toronto, both at 38 points, and has won three of four against Ottawa this season.
But the first two victories were in overtime, in the first month of the season, and Ottawa, which has 32 points, has made significant strides since then.
“It was just staying true to who we were and just believing we could get it done,” said coach Carla Macleod. “It was nice to get one (against Boston) ... you could see the elation on the team when that last shot (on goalie Emerance Maschmeyer) didn't go in. It's just sort of that next step for us to realize that we can win any way that's required in our game, and that we're a great team and a great league.” Maschmeyer is a big reason. The win over Boston was her ninth of the season, second most in the league, and while playing more minutes (1157:12) than any other goalie. She also pushed her goals-against average down to an impressive 2.18 while boosting her save percentage to .919.
In the second period on Wednesday, Maschmeyer made a kick stop on Megan Keller that Macleod later said “might be the save of the year.”
“It's massive,” Macleod said when asked how important Maschmeyer has been to the team's success. “For her to be playing as great as she's playing, obviously, it gives us a lot of confidence and I'm really thrilled for her. She puts in a lot of work and to be at the level that she's playing it's nice to see that she's being rewarded for that.”