TORONTO, ON (May 8, 2024) — Blayre Turnbull scored twice, Natalie Spooner had a goal and an assist, and Kristen Campbell stopped all 26 shots she faced as Toronto defeated Minnesota 4-0 in Game 1 of the PWHL Playoffs on Wednesday at a sold-out Coca-Cola Coliseum.
Toronto now leads the best-of-five series 1-0.
Spooner’s tally, scored at 9:47 of the first period, stood as the game-winner — and was the first-ever PWHL Playoff goal scored.
The forward opened the scoring just three days after clinching the regular season Top Goal Scorer award with 20 goals in 24 games.
Spooner entered Minnesota’s zone with speed, cut to the center of the ice, and wired a shot that went top corner over Nicole Hensley’s glove, giving Toronto a 1-0 lead.
Captain Blayre Turnbull scored her first of two goals at 15:05 of the second period which gave Toronto a 3-0 lead.
The goal was created off the rush, as Spooner dished to Turnbull, who was alone in front. The puck went off the captain’s skate and into the net — Jocelyne Larocque also assisted on the play.
With the score still 3-0 late in the third period, Turnbull iced the game for her team, scoring with just 38 seconds remaining.
Toronto defender Renata Fast entered Minnesota’s zone, dropping the puck back to Hannah Miller, who took a shot from the boards. Turnbull crashed the net and put home the rebound.
Miller and Fast recorded their second assists of the night on the tally.
Emma Maltais — who finished tied for the scoring lead among PWHL rookies in the regular season — made the game 2-0 early in the second period. After breaking free behind the Minnesota defender in the offensive zone, Maltais took a feed from Sarah Nurse and tucked a backhand shot through Hensley’s pads.
Campbell had an especially strong second period as her team was outshot 11-4 in the frame. The shutout is the first in PWHL Playoff history.
Toronto entered the PWHL Playoffs as the first overall seed. They selected Minnesota, the league’s fourth seed, as their opponent on Monday night.
Toronto will look to go up 2-0 in the best-of-five series on Friday, as Game 2 is set to take place at 7:00 p.m. ET at Coca-Cola Coliseum.
Postgame Quotes:
Toronto head coach Troy Ryan on whether his team was purposely selective with their shots: “It wasn’t something that we discussed as a group. We’d like those totals to be up a bit more, but we love the quality of the shots that we scored tonight, so it’s not something that was intentional, but it’s not something that we’re going to stress about either.”
Toronto captain Blayre Turnbull on her team’s win: “I think the whole season we’ve been building and building waiting to get into playoffs and trying to find our game every week and get better so that when players arrived, we are ready to go. I think there’s still a few areas that we can keep improving on, but overall, we’re pretty happy with where we’re at, so we’re excited to get back on the ice for game two.”
Minnesota Head Coach Ken Klee on his team’s performance: “I thought, to be honest with you, we played a good game. A couple of mental mistakes, individual mistakes, and they capitalized. If we look at the game as a whole, I think we got down and we were chasing and that’s the tough part.”
Notes:
- Attendance: 8,473 (Sell-Out) – Coca-Cola Coliseum at Toronto, ON.
- Three Stars: 1) Blayre Turnbull 2) Kristen Campbell 3) Natalie Spooner
- Shots ended 26-20 in favour of Minnesota – Toronto led the category in the first period (7-6), Minnesota led the second period (11-4), the teams tied in the third period (4-4).
- Brittany Howard (TOR) led all players with a career-high five shots on goal – Turnbull and Spooner had four shots each – Minnesota was led in shots by Kendall Coyne Schofield, Taylor Heise, and Grace Zumwinkle with four apiece.
- Toronto was 0/2 on the powerplay – Minnesota was 0/1
- Toronto did not convert on the powerplay for the first time in four games – Minnesota did not score on the powerplay for the fifth straight game.
- Jocelyne Larocque (TOR) led all players in ice time at 27:57 – Sophie Jaques (MIN) led her team with 23:22 TOI.
- Turnbull recorded the first multi-goal game of her PWHL career – She scored three goals during the regular-season.
- Campbell recorded her first playoff shutout after leading the league with three shutouts during the regular season.
- Spooner recorded the game-winning goal after leading the league with five game winners during the regular season.
- Spooner scored Toronto’s first-ever playoff goal – She also scored Toronto’s first-ever regular-season goal (Jan. 5).
- Spooner extends her goal-streak to four games and point-streak to five games (6G, 3A).
- Spooner led all players with a plus-4 rating – Only two players recorded plus-4 ratings during the regular season (Montréal’s Erin Ambrose and Mariah Keopple on Feb. 24).
- Sarah Nurse (1A) extends her point-streak to five games (6G, 3A).
- Hannah Miller recorded two assists in consecutive games – She extended her point-streak to four games (1G, 5A).
- Renata Fast recorded two assists for the third time this season.
- Toronto has scored at least four goals in four straight games.
- Toronto has now won 10 straight games on home ice.
- Minnesota has now lost six straight games.
- Toronto’s third goal at 15:05 of the second period was reviewed by the PWHL Situation Room for a potential kicking of the puck into the net – It was determined there was insignificant evidence to overturn and the initial call was upheld.
- Toronto’s fourth goal at 19:22 of the third period was reviewed by the PWHL Situation Room for potential contact with the goaltender – After review there was no evidence to show contact that would lead to goaltender interference and the initial call was upheld.
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