On Sunday in Ottawa, Boston’s Fleet saw a season loaded with promise end with a punch to the gut, falling 4-3 in double overtime when Michaela Cava scored just 1:12 into the second extra period. The loss knocks Boston out of the PWHL playoffs and sends the Ottawa Charge back to the Walter Cup finals.
The deciding game unfolded at Canadian Tire Centre in front of an announced crowd of 11,297, with Ottawa goaltender Gwyneth Philips turning away 43 shots to keep the Charge alive. Boston outshot Ottawa 46-32 and generated plenty of looks at the winner, but the Fleet never found the goal that would have sent the series back to Lowell after getting buried early by Ottawa’s pressure. As reported by The Boston Globe.
Tight Season Set The Stage
Boston rolled into the postseason as one of the league’s top teams, closing the regular season with 62 points. The matchup with Ottawa always looked like a coin flip. Every regular-season meeting between the Fleet and the Charge went to overtime or a shootout, so a winner-take-all thriller that stretched into a second overtime almost felt preordained. According to PWHL.
How The Game Unfolded
Ottawa landed the first punch when a one-timer from the point by Fanuza Kadirova, officially credited to Sarah Wozniewicz, beat Boston goalie Aerin Frankel. Rebecca Leslie then pushed the Charge lead to 2-0 early in the second period, putting the Fleet in a familiar playoff position: chasing the game.
Boston answered with some of its best hockey of the night. Shay Maloney got the Fleet on the board at 5:19, and then the floodgates cracked. In a 93-second burst, Megan Keller ripped home a power-play goal and Sophie Shirley buried a rebound to suddenly give Boston a 3-2 lead. Keller’s strike was Boston’s first playoff power-play conversion after an 0-for-12 stretch that had been hanging over the series.
Ottawa refused to go quietly. Brooke Hobson tied the game late in the second period, and from there it turned into a goaltending duel that stretched through one tense overtime. Cava finally ended it in the second extra period, silencing Boston’s season and sending the Charge celebrating at center ice. As reported by The Boston Globe.
What It Means
The result hands Ottawa the series and a spot in the Walter Cup final, while Boston heads into the offseason wrestling with missed chances and questions about timely scoring despite a strong regular-season resume. Under the PWHL format, winners of the best-of-five semifinals move on to the Walter Cup Finals. Ottawa now waits on the outcome of Minnesota versus Montréal to find out who it will face for the league’s biggest prize. According to PWHL.
