Ottawa Charge Recap: Week 17

The playoffs are so close, you can almost taste them. Ottawa came back from the international break and picked up where they'd left off, winning a key matchup (in regulation!) against Montreal. They now need 2 points over their final 2 games to clinch a playoff spot.

Montréal Victoire 2 at Ottawa Charge 3

This game did have the feeling of a playoff game. Ottawa are still fighting for their playoff lives, and although Montréal is guaranteed the playoffs, they haven't locked up first place. Things first boiled over about 10 minutes in, when Laura Stacey and Stephanie Markowski took offsetting roughing penalties. In the ensuring 4-on-4, Ashton Bell made the tap-in on an incredible backhand saucer pass by Shiann Darkangelo to take the early lead.

Just 3 minutes later, some up-tempo passing gave Brianne Jenner a goal, with Darkangelo recording her second assist of the period on the play.

It looked like Ottawa was going to get out of the first with a two-goal lead, but stay-at-home defender Anna Wilgren scored with 22 seconds left in the period. It was a low wrister from the point that gold medalist Gwyneth Philips would probably want back.

The second period was fairly evenly matched, but nobody could break through. This was especially noteworthy as Anna Meixner took a penalty, then just 2 seconds into it Danielle Serdachny got called for a faceoff violation. Suddenly the Victoire had 1:58 of 5-on-3. Thankfully the defenders were up to the task, and preserved the lead into the third. Unthankfully, Montréal tied it up 6 minutes into the third. Meixner put her clearing attempt directly into Catherine Dubois, who then got to skate in on a partial breakaway and beat Philips clean. What had felt like a surefire win was looking tense.

The teams again battled hard, with Ottawa even drawing their lone powerplay. Just as it looked like OT might be on order, Shiann Darkangelo took a slashing penalty with 100 seconds left. Ottawa decided to kill the penalty by taking the puck deep into Victoire territory and keeping it there. Then, they did one better, and Gabbie Hughes' point shot with 20 seconds left was tipped in by Ashton Bell.

It was a jailbreak goal, but also it hardly mattered with so little time left. Ottawa won, and the TD Place record-setting crowd of 8576 went home happy. Bell got first-star honours due to her two goals, but I was again impressed by the playmaking abilities of Darkangelo. For what it's worth, I also thought Philips was strong again, other than the first goal she allowed. She's definitely giving Ottawa a chance to win.

This Week

Ottawa plays host to Minnesota tonight (7 pm, TSN), which is a monumental game. If Ottawa can even get the game to overtime, they clinch their playoff spot. Of course, with the Charge just 2 points behind Boston with a game in hand (and 3 behind Toronto, though with no games in hand), they'd like to win, not just force OT. If that doesn't happen, Ottawa plays again on Saturday against Toronto (12 pm, TSN) with another chance to wrap things up. Minnesota wraps up their season against Boston, also on Saturday. So there's everything to play for this week.