By Mikayla Guarasci
It was another sold-out crowd on Wednesday at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC) when Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) Toronto fell 3-2 to Boston on Jan. 17.
Toronto was looking to snap their two-game losing streak and find their first win at home, but a late goal by Boston’s Loren Gabel soured their hopes.
“That one stings,” said Toronto head coach Troy Ryan. “Losing a game where, for the most part, you outplayed Boston.”
After a difficult day of travel from Boston to Toronto due to the weather, the visitors missed their morning skate in preparation for the game.
This came after Boston’s game against Ottawa was postponed last week because of weather concerns. They are tied for the least number of games played this season.
Early in the first period on Wednesday night, Toronto forward Sarah Nurse drew two penalties to give her team the advantage.
Although Toronto couldn’t convert during their four minutes of powerplay time, it allowed them to test Boston goaltender Emma Söderberg, who was making her professional hockey debut.
Nine minutes into the period, forward Hannah Miller scored off a rebound to give the home side a 1-0 lead. This was just Toronto’s second goal at home this season.
It was Miller’s first PWHL goal and her first on North American ice since 2018. After playing hockey at St. Lawrence University in the National Collegiate Athletic Association for four years, Miller played in China and Sweden before returning to North America for the inaugural PWHL season.
“Wow, that’s a crazy stat, I never thought about that either,” Miller said when informed of the statistic. “Anytime you can contribute and help the team feels good. Not the result we wanted tonight, so it doesn’t feel as good but I think it’s steps in the right direction.”
Toronto outshot Boston 10-3 in the first period and took their one-goal lead into the first intermission.
After letting the home side control the game’s opening period, Boston turned things up in the second frame and began pushing more pucks toward Toronto goaltender Kristen Campbell.
Midway through the period, Gabel rifled a shot past Campbell for her first PWHL point and to tie the game at one.
“It’s probably one of the fastest shots I’ve ever seen in women’s hockey,” said Boston head coach Courtney Kessel about Gabel’s shot. “When she gets it off, there’s no goalie in this league that can stop her.”
With a little over a minute left in the second period, Boston defender Megan Keller’s point shot found the back of the net and put the visitors ahead.
“It’s probably one of the fastest shots I’ve ever seen in women’s hockey”
Early in the third period, Toronto found themselves on the powerplay for the fifth time but couldn’t use the advantage to bring the game back to a tie.
The home side struggled on the powerplay throughout the night as they went scoreless on their five opportunities.
“It’s a work in progress,” said Ryan about his squad’s powerplay struggles. “We’ve got a lot of players who haven’t played a ton of powerplay time in the last couple of years, so I still like the possessions [and] the looks.”
He added that while power plays can often be “streaky,” scoring on one of the early powerplay opportunities could have made it “a bit of a different game” for Toronto.
After multiple chances for Toronto, Miller put the puck past Söderberg for her second of the night to knot the game at two with 12:15 remaining in regulation.
However, just when the game looked like it may need extra time to find a winner, Gabel potted her second of the night to give Boston the lead and eventually the win.
Former Northeastern Husky Alina Müller recorded three assists on the night for Boston. The visitors’ top line of Gabel, Müller and forward Hilary Knight has seen success in the season’s early stages.
“We still have some time to figure it out perfectly but so far it’s going really well,” said Müller.
Söderberg picked up her first professional win, stopping 30 of 32 shots against. Meanwhile, Campbell made 19 saves in the loss.
Although they couldn’t hold onto the lead for the win on Wednesday night, Ryan expressed that there were still positives in the loss for Toronto.
“That’s the best 60 minutes we’ve played by far this year,” he said. “There’s a lot of things to look back and reflect on and be proud [of] but ultimately we’ve got to find a way to win.”
UP NEXT: Toronto will look for their second win of the season when they head to Montreal on Jan. 20. Puck-drop is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.
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