Sceptres 5, Torrent 2
The sell-out crowd at Climate Pledge Arena was surprised to learn before the game that Torrent captain Hilary Knight will be out indefinitely with a lower body injury suffered during the Winter Olympics in Italy.
Despite the setback, the news didn’t dampen the crowd’s spirit when it came time to celebrate the Gold Medals she and three of her Seattle cohorts won with Team USA.
Those fellow Golden Girls being defender Cayla Barnes and forwards Hannah Bilka and Alex Carpenter.
The capacity throng of 17,335, a new record for a women’s hockey game in the US, also cheered loudly for the Kraken who represented other countries in Milano. That being Canadian silver medalist Julia Gosling and Team Czechia captain Aneta Tejralová.
What did dampen matters initially was the fact Sceptres forward Jesse Compher went hard to the net and cashed in just 28-seconds into the contest. She beat Seattle goalie Hannah Murphy for her 5th goal of the season, coming on an assist from Daryl Watts.
The Torrent settled down soon after. Although it took five minutes to generate their first shot on goal, they eventually book-ended the first period with a tally of their own. With eleven seconds remaining in the opening stanza, Tejralová took a beautiful, backdoor cross-crease pass from Danielle Serdachny and one-timed the puck into a half empty net behind Toronto goalie Raygan Kirk. The second assist went to Gosling.
Murphy gave up a soft goal from a tough angle at the 4:26 mark of the 2nd period to give the Sceptres a 2-1 lead. She misplayed the wrister from below the right wing goal line from Renata Fast.
The Torrent again waited until the latter stages to even things up. Natalie Snodgrass ripped home a rebound off Carpenter’s breakaway chance with 1:12 remaining in the second period. Toronto had a 21-17 shots-on-goal advantage after 40 minutes.
For the third time in the game Toronto would take a one-goal lead, this time on Emma Maltais’s shot at the 5:56 mark. It came not long after sustained pressure by the Torrent in the Sceptres end to start the third period.
This time no tie was forthcoming. Toronto added two goals in the final two minutes to win 5-2.
The game featured the two last place teams in the PWHL. Seventh place Toronto came in one point ahead of the Torrent and expanded that lead to four points with the 3-point regulation win.
Barring a miracle Seattle won’t be making the playoffs this season, but the fans are fully into the club, and with half the 30-game campaign remaining, everyone has plenty of time to enjoy the inaugural lovefest.
Earlier Torrent:
— Torrent Key To 5-0 Preliminary Win Over Canada
Earlier Kraken:
— Kraken Re-Sign Identity And Grit; Lack Scoring
