Offence slow to arrive as Sceptres suffer 1st loss of season

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The Battle of Ontario was a rather one-sided affair favouring Ottawa in season 1 of the PWHL and it’s starting out that way as well in season 2.

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The Ottawa Charge rallied from a one-goal deficit with two goals in the third period to win the first matchup this season between the two Ontario combatants 3-2.

Ottawa carried the bulk of the play, particularly in the first when Toronto once again came out rather slow and even after a much better second period still wound up paying the price.

Ottawa was the lone opponent to win the season series against Toronto in 2023-24, taking three of five contests between the two teams, but it was a Toronto win in the final game of the regular season over Ottawa that knocked the Charge out of the playoffs.

The Sceptres then relieved Ottawa of its leading scorer in the off-season by signing Toronto native Daryl Watts out of free agency.

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Consider Tuesday night’s win a little payback for all of that and expect this rivalry to grow as the season goes on.

With the loss, Toronto falls to 1-1 on the year. They are back in action Saturday when they host Minnesota.

LEAGUE’S NEW MEDIA PARTNER

If you enjoyed PWHL broadcasts last season, you’re going to be content with the addition of Amazon Prime Tuesday Nights.

The broadcast, as anyone who tuned in Tuesday to Ottawa’s win in its home opener over Toronto, looks exactly like broadcasts of a year ago with the league maintaining control with the league’s newest media partner.

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The Amazon NHL Monday Night broadcasts have a unique look to them with their own play-by-play and analyst crew and even their own between-periods team.

Prime Video will have all 16 Tuesday night games this season.

The first had Daniella Ponticelli and Becky Kellar, who handled the broadcast duties of the Sceptres’ first game in Toronto but for YouTube.

Rob Pizzo handled the sideline duties with in-game interviews on the benches and between periods interviews as well.

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OFFENCE STRUGGLING 2 GAMES IN

Through two games, the Sceptres are about where you thought they might be with leading goal-scorer Natalie Spooner a spectator. The Sceptres have yet to be out of a game at this early stage in the season, but they are struggling to produce offence.

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With five goals through two games, only one has come even strength. They have scored twice on the power play, once short-handed and once into an empty net.

That fifth goal was rather telling for how Troy Ryan’s squad is probably going to have to manufacture offence until Spooner returns.

It started with some good pressure from Julia Gosling, who was no longer on the ice when the puck entered the net. Gosling took plenty of contact behind the Ottawa net to maintain possession before handing it off to Sarah Nurse and heading off for a change. Nurse’s feed out front found a pinching Lauren Bernard, who beat Emerance Maschmeyer between the pads only to have Izzy Daniel help it in the rest of the way for Toronto’s first even-strength goal of the season.

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The combination of winning those board battles and a willingness to go into those areas of the ice where they’re going to get hit — like Bernard and Daniel did going into the blue paint in front of Maschmeyer — are going to be Toronto’s best path to consistent offence.

Having said that, there’s every chance that with a little more time with her new linemates, Watts is capable of filling a large chunk of that lost offence.

Watts got plenty of attention in her return to Ottawa and we’re not just talking about the boos that rained down on her just about every time she touched the puck.

Ottawa kept close tabs on their former teammate who scored a team-best 10 goals for Ottawa last season. Watts had a few chances taking passes as the trailer on a couple of rushes, but for the most part was blanketed inside the Ottawa zone.

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QUICK HITS

— Ronja Savolainen didn’t waste any time putting herself squarely into the intense rivalry between these teams. The big Finnish defender was all over the ice in the first few periods, but it was a late hit from behind that has probably cemented her place in the bad blood between these teams. With time running down and the puck in the corner among many bodies, Savolainen joined the fray late sending Nurse head-first into the boards with a cross-check from behind. Ottawa’s second-round pick in the draft received a boarding penalty and a few choice words from Nurse, who didn’t appreciate the dangerous play of one of the league’s newer members … Kristin Campbell was solid in this one, saving Toronto on a number of occasions before Ottawa pulled away. Campbell stopped 28 of 31 shots and deserved a better fate than the loss she took … As close as Ottawa stuck to Watts in their defensive zone, Toronto was equally aware of No. 2 overall pick Danielle Serdachny. Serdachny had a visitor on her from the moment she entered the offensive zone and was easily the most bodied member of the Charge … Ottawa evened its record to a win and a shootout loss despite not having captain Brianne Jenner for either of its first two games.

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