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PWHL

Ottawa Charge Recap: Week 3

Two regulation losses have the Charge plummeting to the bottom of the standings early in the season.

Ottawa Charge Recap: Week 3
Photo by Rodion Kutsaiev / Unsplash

A bad, bad week for the Ottawa Charge coming off a short break. It’s a good thing the Sens are good now, because the Charge are certainly not giving Ottawa hockey fans much to be excited about.

The thing with the PWHL's 3 point system is that it's easy to fall very far behind, but it's also easy to make up ground if you start winning in regulation. Let's hope the Charge can do that after the holiday break.

Last Week: Ottawa 2, Boston 3

  • Okay, yes, things seem pretty bad for the Charge all around right now, but they weren’t really outplayed in this game. It was a bit all over the place, an evenly matched and winnable game that Ottawa just couldn’t push to overtime.
  • It was a pretty uneventful first period, with no goals, no penalties, and few whistles. Both teams were playing pretty well.
  • Who else to score the first goal of the game but Ottawa legend Jamie Lee Rattray? For the wrong team, unfortunately. She completely deked out Maschmeyer for her first goal of the season. She should come home.
  • It didn’t take long at all for Ottawa to respond - and it was another revenge goal, as Shiann Darkangelo scored her first ever PWHL goal on her old team. It was a tap-in, but a goal’s a goal.
  • Massive props to both Danielle Serdachny and Jincy Roese for their work on that goal. Roese has been on an absolute offensive tear lately, and this goal was a prime example of that.
  • Unfortunately, Boston took the lead back just as quickly as Ottawa had tied the game, thanks to a scramble in front of the net.
  • Thankfully, Aneta Tejralova tied things up before the second period ended, picking up a great drop pass from Brianne Jenner. It’s great to have the captain back!
  • That was Tejralova’s first goal of the season, although she obviously had one called back a few weeks ago. She’s generally known for her defense, but she’s been an absolute offensive force this season.
  • Boston scored again about halfway through the third period, and Ottawa unfortunately couldn’t rally to get the tying goal.
  • Ottawa’s powerplay, which was their biggest strength last season, went 0/3 against Boston and was a big part of why they lost.

Last Week: Ottawa 2, Minnesota 5

  • In some ways, the game wasn’t as bad as the score says it was, but in other ways it was every bit as bad.
  • The good: the Charge were only losing by one until the very end of the game, and the 5th Frost goal was an empty netter, so basically Ottawa was going 2023-24 Sens mode.
  • The bad: Minnesota outshot Ottawa 40 to 24.
  • Things started out well enough for the Charge, with Anna Meixner scoring her first ever PWHL goal. Yet another goal that feels like it should have been credited to Roese, who took the shot.
  • Unfortunately, for the second game in a row, the Charge gave up a goal very soon after scoring one. It was a very weird bounce that didn't make rookie goaltender Gwyneth Phillips look very good.
  • The Frost were clearly the better team in the first period, but the game was well within reach. This is the point where many fans switched over to watch the Sens play the Flames - I myself was recapping the Sens game so I only caught bits of the second and third periods.
  • And that was definitely for the best! It sounds like things went a bit off the rails in the second period, when Minnesota scored two goals and outshot Ottawa 17 to 6. 
  • Right at the start of the third period - and while the Sens were still in intermission! - Tereza Vanišová picked up a great pass from Danielle Serdachny and went on a breakaway, beating the Minnesota goaltender and bringing the Charge within one goal.
  • Of course, Minnesota doubled their lead with about five minutes to go, and added an empty-netter. It sucks to not even get a point in a game you weren’t losing that badly until the end, but at the same time you can’t say the Charge deserved any better.
  • This was Gwyneth Phillips’s much-anticipated PWHL debut, and though I’m sure she would have liked for it to go better, facing almost 40 shots is very impressive. The first goal against was the only one that I felt was her fault, but I also felt like she was often out of position and having to make really dramatic saves. I’m definitely very interested to see how her development goes from here. I'd certainly be happy to see her start another game, maybe against a team that isn't #1 in the standings.
  • Jincy Roese is my Ottawa Charge MVP of the week. I don't know what has changed from last season, but I'm so impressed with her play, especially how she's been able to create offense. She had three huge assists this week, including two in this game.
  • They lost to the best team in the league. It sucks, but it happens.

The Week Ahead

  • The league goes on holiday for the next few days, so the next Charge game will be on December 29th in New York.
  • The Sirens have really turned things around since their very poor inaugural season. To nobody's surprise, Sarah Fillier is really working out for them.
  • It'll be an afternoon game - 1pm EST puck drop, and broadcast on TSN.
  • After that, they head to Toronto on New Year's Eve to face the one team they've actually beaten this year. The Sceptres have been just as bad as the Charge this year, tied for last place with only one regulation win. Remember that they also started out slowly last year and ended the season first in the league, so don't count them out.
  • That will be an Amazon Prime broadcast, at 7pm.

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