OTTAWA — Another game, another difficult loss for Emily Clark and Ottawa's Professional Women's Hockey League team.
Grace Zumwinkle and Sophia Kunin had the goals to lead Minnesota past Ottawa 2-1 on Saturday afternoon. It was not only Ottawa's fifth straight loss but the seventh time this season it has finished on the wrong end of a one-goal game.
"Obviously, it's frustrating and we want to win, we're competitors," said Clark, who scored Ottawa's lone goal. "But there’s a lot of belief in our locker room and with the system of the points with this league, we can get hot and be just fine so just trying to stay confident with this group."
With the win, Minnesota (5-2-2-2) swept a home-and-home series with Ottawa (2-0-4-3) and improved to 3-0-0 versus Ottawa on the season. Minnesota earned a 2-1 home win Wednesday and sits atop the six-team league standings.
Nicole Hensley stopped 28 shots for Minnesota while Ottawa's Emerance Maschmeyer made 22 saves.
"Three points for a win is huge," said Minnesota coach Ken Klee. "Someone was asking me about it the other day and I love it.
"I love the three-point win because I don’t think anybody’s going to be out of it until the last week of the season…for me you should get rewarded when you win in regulation."
Minnesota took some energy out of the 8,407 spectators at TD Place with its opening goal in the first period. A collision at centre allowed Kunin to grab the loose puck, break in alone and thread a shot between Maschmeyer's pads late in the period.
Maschmeyer was solid for Ottawa in the second, robbing Kendall Coyne Schofield and shortly after Ottawa went down ice to tie the game 1-1. Gabby Hughes saw Amanda Boulier but she seemed to fool Hensley by passing to Clark, who scored at 10:04.
Boulier has points (goal, two assists) in her last three games and has been a solid presence on Ottawa's defence.
"It helps to play with such good players," said Boulier. "It was an unbelievable pass by Gabby Hughes and (Clarke) is just sitting there on the backdoor."
Minnesota regained the lead when Zumwinkle raised the puck over a sprawled Maschmeyer with 18.1 seconds remaining in the period.
"It doesn't matter if they score with 18 minutes left or one minute left in the second it's still a goal," said Ottawa coach Carla MacLeod. "At the end of the day you're just constantly trying to defend the right way and a couple of small mistakes and they got the bounce tonight."
Ottawa opened the third trailing 2-1 but couldn't tie the score. Minnesota played a solid defensive game and held the home team to just five shots in the period.
Hensley credited her teammates for helping her in the final stretch.
"My rebound control was not great today," she said. "They just cleared everything or cleared bodies so I could cover it and that's huge."
Ottawa has played well for much of the season but has struggled to finish games. Of its seven losses, four have been in overtime.
"You learn a lot when you lose," Boulier said. “We're constantly reflecting with our coaches, with our teammates on what we can do better.
"I mean, it's a one-goal hockey game…we're in there learning and trying to get better. It's not a great feeling right now, but there's so much good there and I have so much belief in what we're doing."
NOTES
Maschmeyer made her eighth start Saturday. She's the league’s only goaltender to appear in every one of her team’s games this season.
UP NEXT
Ottawa heads to Boston on Monday.
Minnesota returns to action Sunday in Montreal.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2024.
Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press
