Toronto put on its best showing of the Professional Women's Hockey League season. But it was heartbreak in the end on Wednesday night.
Loren Gabel capped a two-goal, one-assist effort with the game-winning goal with 1:50 remaining to lift Boston to a 3-2 victory and hand Toronto its third straight loss. Toronto outshot Boston 32-22, with improved scoring chances from previous games but couldn't capitalize enough.
"That one stings," Toronto head coach Troy Ryan said. "Losing a game where you for the most part outplayed Boston. That's the best 60 minutes we've played by far this year.
"I think there's a lot of things to look back and reflect on and be proud (of), but ultimately we got to find a way to win. You got to at least find a way to get that to overtime and to get a point (with) where we're at right now."
Ryan made multiple line changes, including moving winger Sarah Nurse to centre on the top line alongside Natalie Spooner and Maggie Connors. The home team got off to a hot start, outshooting Boston 10-3 and taking a 1-0 lead into the second period.
"Right off the bat, we forechecked well," said Ryan, who also mentioned being pleased with his team's 5-on-5 play. "Offensively, some of the below-goal-line offence was good, it was generating substantial (offensive-zone) possession time. We still got to find a way to score some of those goals.
"Ultimately, on some of those goals against, we just backed up, we gave way too much gap. Some of them were 1-on-3 situations and we just backed up and gave offensive players a chance to shoot."
Megan Keller also scored for Boston (2-1-0), which came in off its first-ever win, a 3-2 overtime victory over Montreal on Saturday. Alina Muller dished out three assists.
Emma Soderberg stopped 30 shots in her first start of the season after backing up Aerin Frankel in Boston's opening two games.
"A huge team win there," said Boston head coach Courtney Kessel. "Good battle back, we obviously didn't have the start we wanted but it's good to see us be able to battle back."
"We had a really long travel day because of the snowstorm in Boston and so I think we knew that our legs were going to be a little bit heavy."
Hannah Miller scored twice for Toronto (1-4-0), which dropped to 0-3-0 at home this season and into last place in the PWHL standings. Kristen Campbell made 19 saves.
"You can look at it that way, or you can look at it as we're getting the chances and eventually it is going to come," Miller said of the missed scoring opportunities. "I think just taking the positives and moving forward and just continuing to build is what we're going to focus on."
Campbell said there's no time to ponder on such losses.
"The turnover is quick, we play again Saturday. So we don't have time to sit on a loss like that," she said. "We have to take the positives and build off those because that's what's going to bring us the wins here in the next few games.
"That's the best I've seen us play and we know that the wins are going to come here."
Miller opened the scoring nine minutes into the first period, firing in a rebound off a Jocelyne Larocque shot in front.
Gabel knotted the contest 12:38 into the second, beating Campbell glove side with a wrist shot on a 2-on-1 rush.
Keller put Boston ahead with 1:22 remaining in the middle frame, firing in a one-timer.
Miller scored her second to tie the contest at 7:46 of the third period, earning a standing ovation from the sold-out Mattamy Athletic Centre crowd of 2,491. She knocked in a rebound off a Jesse Compher shot in front.
Gabel took a feed from Muller and roofed it with a backhand to seal the win for Boston.
UP NEXT
Toronto heads east for a matchup against Montreal on Saturday.
Boston flies home to host New York on Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 17, 2024.
Abdulhamid Ibrahim, The Canadian Press
