Things to watch for as Ottawa Charge tries to take command of PWHL final

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The Ottawa Charge has opened the door, settled in nicely behind the wheel and enjoyed its first tour of the block on a drive to the PWHL championship.

Now it’s time to lean on the pedal and give ‘er.

With Tuesday’s 2-1 overtime victory over the defending-champion Minnesota Frost, the Charge has taken a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five Walter Cup final with Game 2, and a chance to have a stranglehold on the series when it moves to Minnesota, arriving Thursday at TD Place.

To stay the teams are evenly matched is an understatement.

They both finished the PWHL regular season with 44 points, they split their season series 3-3, and they were tied at one goal apiece through three periods of Game 1 in their showdown for the title.

If Emily Clark hadn’t scored in the first three minutes of overtime, who knows how long the night would have lasted?

What does seem to be a sound assumption is that Game 1 will not be distinguished by the fact that it extended beyond regulation time.

More likely is that all games, however long the series lasts, will be low-scoring and decided by a single shot.

Here are a few things to watch for as Ottawa tries to take a 2-0 series lead.

Continued brilliance from the goalie

Opponents have figured out the best way to beat Gwyneth Philips: catch her when she’s behind the net, not in front of it.

While she waited for the centre-ice faceoff after a puck-handling gaffe by Philips led to Minnesota’s early third-period goal on Thursday, the fans rose to their feet to give her a rousing ovation of support.

Philips responded by shutting the door the rest of the way.

Perhaps the greatest attribute of Ottawa’s rookie goalie is her competitiveness.

She also loves her teammates and hates to let them down, so she does everything she can to make sure it rarely happens.

The 24-year-old Buckeye has been the top goalie in the playoffs with a 1.11 goals-against average and a .957 save percentage while stopping 154 of 161 shots to go with her 4-1 record.

Phillips has been named one of the three stars in all five games: two firsts, two thirds and a second.

“She’s been a brick wall back there,” Ottawa forward Rebecca Leslie said.

If that continues, there’s a very good chance the PWHL will be crowning a new champion next week.

They get down, but they’re never out

The Charge is well aware of their foe’s past playoff history.

Minnesota is now 0-4 in series openers, but has yet to lose a round.

In last year’s semifinal against Toronto, Minnesota was blanked in the first two games by scores of  4-0 and 2-0, but came back to win the next two at Xcel Energy Center with 2-0 and 1-0 shutouts of its own before taking the deciding game 4-1 in Toronto.

Minnesota lost the first game of the 2024 final against Boston 4-3, took the second game 3-0 and Game 3 by a 4-1 count, lost Game 4 1-0, then won the title with a 3-0 triumph.

This year, the Frost fell 3-2 to the Toronto Sceptres in the first game, then roared back to win the next three by scores of 5-3, 7-5 and 4-3.

“We’re definitely not trying to play from behind … It’s just one of those things,” Frost coach Ken Klee said Wednesday. “It’s a long series. Playoffs are tough. It’s tough to win games. It’s the spot we found ourselves in in the past and, unfortunately, we’re in it again, but, again, it’s a long series. It’s the first team to win three, and we know that. We did some good things (Tuesday) night and we know we need to clean up some things. We’ll be looking forward to that (Thursday).”

Turning off the power, the sequel

Ottawa’s shutdown line of Clark, Gabbie Hughes and Mannon McMahon was at it again on Tuesday.

In fact, those three, along with the blue-line pairing of Jocelyne Larocque and Ashton Bell was even more effective against the Frost big guns than it had been against Montreal’s Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey and Jen Gardiner in the first round.

While the Victoire line was able to put a sufficient amount of rubber on goal, Minnesota’s top unit of Taylor Heise, Kendall Coyne Schofield and Michela Cava — which combined for 16 points against the Sceptres — was blanked in Game 1 while managing a total of just six shots.

Holding the hot hand

Clark and Leslie have accounted for all the Charge offence in the past two games, each scoring once in the identical 2-1 victories.

As far as Clark goes, it’s not much of a surprise.

Along with her dogged checking, she has 15 goals and 23 assists in 59 regular-season and playoff PWHL games combined.

Lesie, the hometown girl, has six goals and nine assists in 61 games.

“I think the confidence has caught up to her skill level,” Charge head coach Carla MacLeod said. “I think Becca Leslie has been a great player in women’s hockey for a long time, and she’s been a great player for us all season. It’s just now with that added confidence, she’s been able to shoot the puck a few times and she’s obviously got a great shot. So it’s always nice to see players be rewarded, and I think she’s one that’s just continued to grow with the game and grow with the league, and she’s had a nice little postseason here for us.”

Bet on it

FanDuel oddsmakers have the Charge as the favourite to win Thursday’s game and -114 and the series at -230.

Minnesota is a -105 underdog in Game 2 and +184 to successfully defend its Walter Cup hold.

To take the playoff MVP award, Philips is currently the favourite at +280, followed by Clark at +360, Ottawa captain Brianne Jenner at +450, then three members of the Frost: Heise (+460), Schofield (+550) and Lee Stecklein (+1300).

Leslie is a long shot at +10000, which means a successful $2 bet pays $200.

All those numbers no doubt swing dramatically with the outcome of Game 2.