It was a big night for both of these teams. Toronto was looking to extend its winning streak to 11 games, and Boston was looking to stay in the final playoff spot. Before the game started, Lexie Adzija made her Boston debut, and Erica Howe played her second game of the season. Howe was 0-1-0 going into this game.
The start of the game was back-and-forth hockey, with both teams trying to capitalize early. Boston was coming off a big win on Saturday against Ottawa; they were just one point ahead of them in the playoff race. About halfway through the first period, Jocelyne Larocque went to the box for interference. Shortly after, Sidney Morin gave Boston the lead with a powerplay goal after a pass back from Jamie Lee Rattray. Boston has the lowest powerplay % with just 7%, so getting this goal gave this team hope.
Toronto had two other penalties for the rest of the period, but Boston was unable to capitalize on those. Boston led the shooting 10-3, a promising start on their behalf.
The second period arrived, and Boston held onto their one-goal lead. Boston did not commit any penalties in the first, but they got two in the second period. They were able to kill both penalties, leaving the second period with their one-goal lead still standing. Boston was leading the shots 21-9, a big difference.
The final period arrived, and Toronto was still behind. It did not take long for things to get started. Renata Fast was able to get one behind Söderberg on the powerplay. This game was now tied with still plenty of the third to go.
This was a rough period for Boston, they had control over this game for 40 minutes and then let it all go in the third. They had 3 penalties in the third period and only had 8 shots against Toronto’s 12. It wasn’t long before the lead was lost. Natalie Spooner got the puck in the back of the net after a bad sequence of plays from Boston.
Toronto now held the lead with 13 minutes left to go in the game. It did not get better for Boston after this point. They pulled Söderberg, who had a few minutes left to go in the game, but the empty net did not help either team. Toronto walks away with their 11th straight win, and Boston loses their playoff spot after Ottawa beat New York in regulation 3-0. The playoff race continues and Boston needs to work on their gameplay if they would like to stay in the race.
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