PWHL Toronto Clinches
Nurse's OT winner in front of a record-breaking crowd locks Toronto in for playoff hockey.
A Sarah Nurse overtime goal in front of a record-breaking crowd of 21,105 at the Bell Centre was the cherry on top of Toronto clinching a spot in the 2024 PWHL Playoffs. All Toronto needed to do to clinch today was earn a point, and they did that by taking Montreal to overtime.
This marks the first time in league history a team has clinched a playoff berth, which is quite an achievement for a club that began the year with two wins in its first seven games. You know what they say – it's not how you start, it's how you finish. And, right now, PWHL Toronto has every opportunity to win the regular season.
In addition to scoring the overtime winner, Nurse scored in the second period as well, before PWHL Montreal tied the game up on the power play with a goal from Erin Ambrose. Fittingly enough, Kristen Campbell was sensational in front of the sold-out crowd. She stopped 37 of the 39 shots she faced and yielded just one goal at even strength (Sarah Bujold) to PWHL Montreal.
With today's two-goal performance, Nurse now has 17 points – seven of which are goals – on the season. But none were bigger than today's OT winner.
With a record of 10 regulation wins, four overtime wins, and seven regulation losses, PWHL Toronto now has 38 points in 21 games played. Today's overtime win kept them undefeated in extra time in their inaugural season and helped push Toronto to a date with destiny in the postseason.
Toronto has just three games left in the regular season and they are currently three points ahead of both Montreal and Minnesota in the standings. However, Minnesota plays tonight and has a game in hand over PWHL Toronto. It's a tight race at the top of the standings and for the fourth spot between PWHL Ottawa, PWHL Boston, and the currently last place PWHL New York. Every game matters, which is just how it should be.
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