Toronto's lack of finish rears its ugly head in another PWHL loss
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The start was different, the middle was different, but the result remained the same for Toronto’s PWHL entry and the losses are starting to pile up.
Toronto fell to 1-4 with a 3-2 loss, their third of the season at home as Mattamy Athletic Centre continues to be far comfortable for the visitors than it has been for the hosts.
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The script definitely changed. For the first time this season, Toronto opened the scoring and for the first time this year scored in the first period.
The bad part of the script change was the second period, which Toronto has for the most part owned this season, but not Wednesday night.
Boston scored twice in that period to erase a 1-0 Toronto lead on goals by Loren Gabel and Megan Keller, two of just five shots in the period by Boston as they regained control of the game.
Toronto took a lead in the first as Hannah Miller used her elite hand-eye co-ordination to knock one about waist high out of the air and past Boston goalkeeper Emma Soderberg, who was making her first start of the season.
Soderberg, with some help from her defenders, somehow kept the first volley of shots on this particular attack out of her net, but had no chance as Miller swatted it out of the air for her first goal of the young PWHL season.
Toronto thoroughly dominated the first, outshooting Boston 10-3 and playing most of the frame in Boston’s end. But their inability to bury chances, something Toronto has struggled with all season, continued to be a problem.
Soderberg was on her game, no question, but Toronto’s lack of finish remains a problem.
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Toronto got the game back to even in the third as Miller finished off another wild flurry in front of Soderberg with her second goal of the game. But with overtime looming and just over three minutes left in the game, Gabel got in alone on Kristen Campbell for the second time in the game and again beat her high to the glove side for the game-winning goal.
Toronto pulled Campbell with just over a minute remaining and had possession in the Boston end, but didn’t manage a decent shot on Soderberg as Boston’s defence eventually cleared and preserved the win.
Toronto outshot Boston 32-22 with Soderberg earning third-star honours and Gabel, with her two goals, picking up first-star accolades. Miller, with the first two-goal game of the season for Toronto, was the game’s second star.
Toronto heads out on the road for two games beginning with a Saturday night matchup in Verdun, Que., against Marie-Philip Poulin and the Montreal PWHL entry.
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