‘We’ve been in these moments before’: Ottawa Charge embraces do-or-die Game 4

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After dropping a triple-overtime Game 3 marathon in the PWHL finals, the Ottawa Charge is entering new territory as a franchise.

Having defeated the first-seed Montreal Victoire 3-1 in the semifinals, the Charge had yet to face elimination in a playoff game. On Monday night, the Walter Cup will be in the building as the Minnesota Frost can lay claim to the PWHL’s first two championships.

Yet Rebecca Leslie, tied for third in team playoff scoring, believes the group has been prepared for situations like these all along. Following starting goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer’s injury on March 11, Ottawa sat five points out of a playoff spot with eight games remaining in their season.

“Our second half of the season has kind of been a do-or-die situation,” she said. “We’ve been in these moments before.”

On the final day of the PWHL regular season, the Charge entered Toronto’s Coca-Cola Coliseum needing a win to squeak into the playoffs. Katerina Mrazova scored in overtime to make it happen. The team won four of its final five regular-season games.

Not to mention rookie goaltender Gwyneth Philips, who gave up just six goals in those five games with a .949 save percentage.

In the post-season, few players have thrived under pressure as well as Leslie, who opened the scoring in both the clinching game of Ottawa’s semifinal series and Game 1 of the PWHL finals.

The 29-year-old Ottawa local also noted that many of her teammates have been exposed to more all-or-nothing moments than their male counterparts through Olympics, world championships and college national tournaments. Brianne Jenner, Emily Clark, Jocelyne Larocque and Ashton Bell are some of those players with big-game experience on the biggest stages.

Clark leads the Charge with five points and scored the Game 1 overtime winner. Jenner is second in team scoring. Larocque and Bell have formed arguably the best shutdown tandem in the playoffs. Ottawa’s best players have elevated their games, but more is still needed to unseat the defending Walter Cup champions.

“Every game is kind of just a do-or-die situation for us,” Leslie said. “We live for these moments, so we’re excited to embrace it.”

Still, for all the clutch moments and experience belonging to the Charge, they’ve been equally snake-bitten when it matters most. Four of their seven playoff games have gone to overtime, and they’ve only come away victorious in one of them. Extra-time hockey was always a weakness for Ottawa in the regular season — they lost six out of eight games that went beyond regulation.

Katy Knoll’s triple-overtime winner for the Frost marked Ottawa’s second marathon loss this spring after an even longer quadruple overtime blow against Montreal in the semifinals.

After playing four overtime periods, the mood in the Charge locker room was still remarkably positive — players were laughing over pizza and Gatorade, while defenders Ronja Savolainen and Aneta Tejralova ran sprints through the halls of Place Bell.

If that wasn’t relaxed enough, Leslie said the team’s spirits were even higher after their most recent loss in Minnesota.

“I was a little bit more stressed for the Montreal game, because I just thought everything was on the line, but you realize that it is a marathon,” she said.

“Obviously it’s a little frustrating at the beginning when you’re just finishing off the game, but it’s a series — you’re not going to win or lose in one game.”

In Game 4, that won’t be the case. It’s time to see which version of the Ottawa Charge shows up.

“You gotta choose how you respond,” Clark said. “The story is still unwritten.”