TORONTO — Ottawa had plenty to be excited about after a big win Saturday.
Gabbie Hughes scored two goals in leading Ottawa to its first-ever victory, 5-1 over Toronto in Professional Women's Hockey League action. Ottawa's game at Boston on Monday was postponed to Feb. 19 due to inclement weather, leaving a 10-day break after its season opener.
"It's just exciting, there's been so much buildup to this point of being in the league and obviously our home opener, it was electric (but) it fell a little short when it came to the win column," Ottawa head coach Carla MacLeod said.
"To get the first win is a big one for us and there's a lot of excitement in the room."
The time off after the 3-2 overtime loss against Montreal on Jan. 2 was something starting goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer felt was advantageous.
"It feels like we've been waiting on this game for a while," Maschmeyer said. "Especially after the first one, we obviously wanted to get that win at home but we were excited to get on the road and head to Boston, and it was postponed.
"It created a little adversity for us but we were fortunate that we got to practise a little more together and I think that showed there (today). We came out flying and rested and we were physical and we got some goals pretty quickly and that set us up well."
Katerina Mrázová, Gabbie Hughes, Daryl Watts, Natalie Snodgrass added the others for Ottawa (1-0-1). Maschmeyer made 23 saves and picked up an assist.
Natalie Spooner scored the first-ever home goal for Toronto (1-3-0), which dropped its second in a row. Kristen Campbell gave up three goals on 11 shots starting in net, while Erica Howe stopped 13-of-15 shots in relief.
"It's super special to be able to play for my hometown team, have my family there," Spooner said of her goal. "Playing for Toronto, even just the history of sports in Toronto, I think is amazing."
Toronto head coach Troy Ryan pointed to positives and negatives he found from his squad.
"There's parts of our games that I liked, some of the energy and some of the jump," he said. "But I thought Ottawa just made better decisions with the puck.
"We got caught on the fourth goal, just a wholesale line change. But we didn't make some breakout plays, we didn't get pucks deep when we had the opportunity to."
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow performed the ceremonial puck drop in front of 2,417 in attendance at Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Toronto found itself in a hole near the midway mark of the first period. After Jesse Compher was sent to the penalty box for holding an opponent's stick, Blayre Turnbull joined her for roughing just 18 seconds later.
Mrázová opened the scoring 9:29 into the contest with the 5-on-3 advantage on a rebound from a Jincy Roese shot.
Hughes doubled up Ottawa's lead 48 seconds later on the power play, scoring on a rebound from an Amanda Boulier shot.
Watts made it 3-0 with 15.8 seconds left, whipping a wrist shot off the post and in.
Campbell was pulled in favour of Howe to start the second period.
Spooner got Toronto on the board 1:38 into the second, sweeping the puck in off Maschmeyer from behind the net.
Snodgrass furthered Ottawa's lead 5:40 into the middle frame. Maschmeyer's clearing found a streaking Snodgrass while Toronto was going through a line change, and her wrist shot trickled through the legs of Howe who couldn't corral the puck.
"You're going to get caught," Ryan said. "Everyone's feeling the same thing in trying to just sneak off the ice and think they're the only one but when four or five go — you just can't give people chances like that.
"That honestly was probably one of the most disappointing parts of the game because Howe goes in as a goalie that's just going to battle for us a lot in practice. We've given Campbell the reins to take and run with it.
"I know the players think the world of Howe and her role on the team so I would just expect a little more from a teammate's perspective on Howe and just not leave her hanging out to dry (and) have that be one of the first goals she'll let in the PWHL."
Hughes netted her second of the game 11:34 into the third period after tapping the puck in off a Mikyla Grant-Mentis feed.
UP NEXT
Toronto closes a two-game homestand against Boston on Wednesday.
Ottawa heads home to host Minnesota on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 13, 2024.
Abdulhamid Ibrahim, The Canadian Press
