OTTAWA — It was never going to be easy getting out of this rut the Toronto Sceptres have been stuck in, some of it their own doing, but most of it not.
The Sceptres have been playing good hockey for three weeks, but had just one win to show for it.
Tuesday night in Ottawa against their toughest PWHL opponent (if one goes strictly by wins and losses), that run of tough-to-swallow results easily could have continued with even more puck misfortune.
Instead, the Sceptres swallowed a little more bad hockey luck and just kept playing, eventually skating away with a 4-2 win and three very important points.
Here are our takeaways from the game.
LUCK IS EVENING OUT A LITTLE
The hockey gods haven’t exactly been generous with the Sceptres of late, and we’re not just talking about that CLEARLY offside goal Sunday that gifted the New York Sirens a 1-0 overtime win.
It has been so much more bad puck luck than just that.
Initially that luck appeared to be changing when Sarah Nurse knocked a puck out of the air at waist height, redirecting it right onto the stick of Hannah Miller for the Sceptres’ first goal.
But a period later it was right back to the bad luck that has been dogging this team like a bad case of the flu.
A seemingly harmless scrum deep in the corner and well away from the Toronto net saw Renata Fast try to clear the puck, only to have it go directly into the back of the net off Kristen Campbell’s skate.
Victoria Bach was credited with the goal as the last member of the Charge to touch the puck.
It was just one more extension of the Sceptres’ run of poor puck luck.
It was also reminiscent of the first goal Ottawa scored against Toronto in this building in the inaugural season, when Erica Howe took the Toronto net for the first time. Ottawa forward Emily Clark shot from the same corner of the rink and somehow snuck it past Howe, who wasn’t quite tight to her post.
Ottawa would go on to win that game 3-1. Not including last night’s result, Ottawa has won five of the seven games the teams have played against one another.
SPECIAL TEAMS WIN GOES TO OTTAWA
Despite a solid overall game, Toronto’s run of three straight games without giving up a power-play goal came to an end in the first period. With Rylind MacKinnon in the box for slashing, Mannon McMahon shot through a crowd in front of Kristen Campbell, beating the Toronto goalie for the first power-play goal by an opponent in the last eight advantages.
Toronto was on the power play itself three times in the first period alone and didn’t manage to score, any although Miller’s first-period goal came just as an Ottawa penalty was ending.
HARMON FINDING HER WAY
Savannah Harmon had her world turned upside down just before the new year, just like the other three principals in the stunning trade between Ottawa and Toronto.
It is in her fourth game finally that we are seeing the kind of player and the kind of impact Harmon offers.
Harmon and Renata Fast were all over this game, pushing the offence and pushing back against the Charge.
Harmon was jumping into the rush as we had seen her do so much with Ottawa, but had not seen a lot of with Toronto.
Well, the wait is over and Harmon is looking like that two-way defender the Sceptres thought they were getting when they made the trade.
TURNING DOWN OPPORTUNITIES
Emma Maltais had an open net on a perfectly executed 2-on-1 and with an empty net in front of her Matais tried to make the extra pass, letting a potential goal disappear.
We’re going to credit Emerance Maschmeyer for that decision. The Ottawa goalie has been so good of late that players believe they have to be perfect to score on her.
Maltais turned one down that should have been in the back of the net.