Ottawa Charge let late lead slip away in OT loss that leaves PWHL championship final tied

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The Ottawa Charge was 15.4 seconds from getting one hand on the Walter Cup.

But the defending PWHL champions showed they aren’t about to let it go without a struggle.

Britta Curl-Salemme scored her second goal of the game at 16:24 of overtime to complete a dramatic comeback and give the Minnesota Frost a 2-1 victory over the Charge on Thursday night.

The Ottawa loss, in front of 8,206 fans at a sold-out TD Place, ties the best-of-five PWHL championship final at 1-1.

Games 3 and 4 will be Saturday and Monday in St. Paul, Minn.

With the help of some diligent work by Rebecca Leslie, Jocelyne Larocque scored her first of the season — and just her second in 64 PWHL games — to give the Charge the lead with 2:35 left in regulation.

But Curl-Salemme swiped in the equalizer from close range on a power play with 15.4 seconds remaining and goalie Maddie Rooney on the bench for a 6-on-4 advantage to set up the second overtime game of the series.

The Charge outshot the visitors 38-23, including a 30-19 margin through three periods,

Ottawa’s penalty killers were instrumental, killing off Minnesota’s first four power plays.

The Charge dominated play through the first two periods with a 24-9 edge in shots on goal.

That included three Minnesota power plays in which the Frost forced Gwyneth Philips to make just two stops.

Entering the game, the Frost led all teams with a superb 45.5 percent success rate with a player advantage.

The Frost made a goaltending change for Game 2, replacing Nicole Hensley with Rooney. But it likely had nothing to do with the fact Clark’s OT winner in the opener, a short side shot that went between Hensley’s arm and body on the short side, should have been stopped.

Rooney was the team’s No. 1 goalie during the regular season, playing 19 of the 30 games, and had the fourth-best goals against average in the league.

Rooney also played Games 2 and 3 in the opening-round series against Toronto and won both, but she also allowed eight goals with an .849 save percentage.

Hensley was 1-1 against and won the clincher while posting a 2.43 GAA and a .906 save percentage.

The Charge had a golden opportunity to break the ice in the third period when Ashton Bell was open alone in front of the net, but her shot was stopped by Rooney. With Tereza Vanisova in the penalty box, it would have been a jailbreak goal.

Minnesota did manage two shots during that Vanizova penalty, but Philips, who made an acrobatic save off a fluttering Denisa Krizova shot early in the period, was equal to the task.

Ottawa’s penalty killers were at their finest after a weak illegal body checking call on Ronja Savolainen near the midway mark of the second period. Not only did Minnesota fail to get a shot during the next two minutes but the Charge came close to scoring the game’s first goal when Emily Clark set up Gabbie Hughes for a shot from the slot that grazed the post.

Minnesota managed just three shots on goal in the first period, including one with the period’s only power play, while the Charge fired eight at Rooney.

The Charge had to do without Katrina Mrazova, who missed the game with an unspecified injury.

Mrazova missed 16 games during the regular season with a wrist problem but came back to score the winning goal in the regular season finale against Toronto that put the Charge in the playoffs.

Taking her spot as the third-line centre between Anna Meixner and Rebecca Leslie was rookie Taylor House, who had a goal and an assist in 15 games this season.

House suited up for three games in the Montreal series but saw just 3:03 of ice time in total.