Charge eliminate Victoire in Game 4 with a 2-1 victory

Big players shine in big games. Tonight, with the chance to win the series, Emily Clark and Gwyneth Philips especially stood strong, willing Ottawa into the finals. Clark and Rebecca Leslie had the goals, and ​​​Philips made 19 saves for the win.

Each game this series has had a theme. Game 1 was the Victoire's powerplay vs. the Charge at even strength. Game 2 was a battle against the concept of time. Game 3 was a good old-fashioned goaltending duel. And tonight, it was about stifling. Outside of a couple short stretches, Ottawa limited the PWHL's best offensive team and best offensive player with their season on the line. It was a great defensive team effort.

​The first period started about as well as it could for Ottawa. On just the first two shots of the game, Ottawa got a rebound and a goal. Anna Meixner took the low shot on a 2-on-1, a shot that looked like the classic "pass off the goalie", and Rebecca Leslie was the beneficiary, putting the rebound into an empty net.

Leslie had just one goal on the season (and two last year for PWHL Toronto), but she seems to know how to pick them, as she scored once in last year's playoffs and now scored once in this year's too.

On top of that goal, Ottawa just looked more organized. They were pressuring more, connecting on passes more, and generating more offence. Ottawa was forcing Montreal into icings and Montreal for their part looked a little lost. Marie-Philip Poulin was playing like a vintage Erik Karlsson, seeing her team struggling and trying to do it all herself. The problem is that, much like vintage Karlsson, MPP has the ability to turn a game by herself, so she couldn't be ignored.

The second period looked like Montreal had been coached to come out strong, and they did for the first few minutes, forcing Gwyneth Philips into a couple big saves. Thankfully, that was about the full extent of Montreal's pressure for the period. Ottawa drew the game's first period, and though they couldn't score, their PK was strong when the Victoire got the inevitable follow-up powerplay. Still, 1-0 was far too close for comfort in a game of this magnitude.

Mercifully, we got a huge boost to open the third. Emily Clark picked up a scrambled puck and made an impressive individual play to put it in, just 30 seconds in. Montreal would challenge for a missed hand pass, but failed, so Ottawa was up two and went to the powerplay.

The period was pretty stifled until maybe 5 minutes left. The Charge actually got a solid chance, but Ann-Renee Desbiens showed she hadn't given up, making a big save. The puck went the other way, and Maureen Murphy beat a tired set of Charge players in. Philips made the save, but both she and Ronja Savolainen lost sight of the puck, and Murphy got to tuck it in on the rebound. We were back to a one-goal game. Montreal got Desbiens out with 2 minutes left, but Ottawa managed to clear a couple times – the first Clark beat out an icing, and the second wasn't icing but all four officials missed the tip that was obvious on the replay. Montreal iced it with 30 seconds left, forcing Desbiens back in the net, and couldn't score with their final push. The Charge are going to the Finals in their first time appearance in the playoffs.

Game Thoughts:

• Philips, unsurprisingly, was really good. You don't play a close one against the league's best team without a good goalie. What always stands out to me is how calm she looks. Even allowing the Murphy goal, she let herself look disappointed for a quarter second, then collected herself and got back into game mode.
• Clark made a great play for the goal, but she made an even better one with 70 seconds left. Ottawa missed the empty net from their own end , but it wasn't icing because Clark beat everyone down the ice to play it. Clark and Shiann Darkangelo paced the Charge tonight with 4 shots.
• I also want to shout out coach Carla MacLeod. She seems to strike the perfect balance of being excited but also keeping the group calm.
• Go Charge Go!