Ottawa Charge Starts Off Strong with Franchise-First Playoff Win

The Ottawa Charge took down the Montréal Victoire 3-2 in regulation in the first battle of the five game series, earning the franchise’s first ever playoffs win. With this defeat, the Victoire’s record falls to 0-0-3-1 across two seasons. All their other losses came in overtime to the Boston Fleet in the inaugural season.

Recap

This was a back-and-forth game with lots of excitement and scoring chances. Ottawa scored the first goal of the night in the first five minutes, capitalizing only 34 seconds into a delay of game penalty. The Victoire got one back ten minutes later, scoring off the rush on their own advantage after a body-checking call.

In the second period, Ottawa went up again, this time on an even-strength goal from Ashton Bell. The Charge took advantage of fallen bodies in front of Ann-Renée Desbiens’ net to find twine while the goaltender was down. But the Victoire would even the score once again off Marie-Philip Poulin’s stick, in an unusual second power play goal for the home team.

The third saw only one goal: the eventual game-winner from Ottawa’s Shiann Darkangelo, scored at even strength after defensive lapses on Montréal's part left her alone in the slot. The Charge took the win despite falling short in shots on goal, totaling 27 to Montréal's 33.

How it went down

This was a close game by more than just the final score. Not only did Montréal have the edge in shots on goal, they had the advantage in shot placement. The Victoire got the puck to the netfront and forced Gwyneth Philips to make saves in tight. But they weren’t able to set up much cycling in Ottawa’s zone, thanks to a dogged forecheck that forced play to the neutral zone time and again. The Charge took the edge over the home team in blocked shots and in hits.

“Playing on our toes and being aggressive is a part of our style,” Charge head coach Carla MacLeod said post-game. “Time and space is the trick in this game. You get a little time and space, typically players of this level are going to make a play, so you're trying to eliminate that.”

On the other side of the ice, Ottawa’s pressure led to lots of offensive zone time, but the Victoire did a great job of forcing the puck to the outside, reducing the threats against Desbiens. The Charge’s two even-strength goals came when the Victoire failed to clear the center of the ice.

Ottawa’s captain Brianne Jenner praised her linemate after Darkangelo’s game-winning goal. “She plays the game the right way, 200-foot player and I think we're just seeing her getting rewarded for that play… there's no holes in her game.”

The Victoire had a number of good scoring chances that didn’t translate to goals. They hit the opposing goalie’s mask and missed an open net in the last few minutes of play. But one thing they can be proud of is their two power-play goals on the night. For a team that has struggled with the player advantage, this game was a notable success.

“It's huge for us as a team,” Montréal's alternate captain Laura Stacey said after the game. “To be able to get two power play goals tonight, I think it's awesome. I think that's one of the positives that we really need to kind of stick with… to be able to not have that as one of the things that we're getting questioned on, it's a nice feeling and it's something that we can rally around… If we can outplay them five on five and then know that we have the confidence to put some away on the power play, I think that puts us in a really great spot.”

On to the next

Despite the loss, Victoire head coach Kori Cheverie expressed confidence in the team’s systems and didn’t put the loss down to any structural issues:

“I don't think as a collective we had our best game, that's for sure. Some details and habits within our game plan I think were not followed in terms of just some mental mistakes… I thought we stopped Ottawa in certain aspects of their game plan that they wanted to execute on, but we don't need to change our game plan from this game.”

Laura Stacey also expressed confidence in the team’s overall play:

“It wasn't our best, and we were right there. That game was just as much ours as it was theirs. We outshot them. We, I don't know the stats, but we had a lot of great opportunities. We were right there. So… there is some positive to take in the sense of, okay, it wasn't our best, and we were still right there, so if we can put that in together for 60 whole minutes, it'll look scary.”

While the Victoire are searching for positives to focus on, the Charge are focusing on internal motivation and measured gameplay. Coach MacLeod rejected the narrative of her team playing with a chip on their shoulder due to the top-seeded Victoire picking them as an opponent:

“We don't need external motivation… for us, it's not really about that at all. Montréal earned that opportunity to select their opponent, they selected us. That was their job and now it's our job just to keep pushing and playing.”

The Montréal Victoire will host the Ottawa Charge next on Sunday, May 11, at 2pm Eastern.