Second straight overtime defeat leaves Ottawa Charge with just one life left in PWHL final

Montreal's Maggie Flaherty (91) celebrates with Kati Tabin (9) after Tabin's goal tied the score against the Ottawa Charge during the second period of Game 2 of the PWHL Walter Cup final on Saturday. Photo by Evan Buhler /Postmedia

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Victoire 2, Charge 1 (OT)

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Montreal leads best-of-five 2-0

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The Ottawa Charge has picked a bad time to go on its first losing streak in more than a month.

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Maggie Flaherty scored at 14:12 of overtime to give the Montreal Victoire a 2-1 victory over the Charge on Saturday at Place Bell in Laval, putting Ottawa in a 2-0 hole in the best-of-five PWHL championship final.

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Flaherty was left alone in front of the net for the winner after Ottawa defender Emma Greco appeared to be tripped by Montreal’s Kaitlin Willoughby.

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The Charge hadn’t dropped back-to-back games in more than six weeks (10 games), dating back to the regular season and a 2-1 loss to Toronto on April 1 and a 3-0 defeat against the Victoire on April 3.

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It was the second Walter Cup final game in a row, and the sixth consecutive going back to last May, that was decided in overtime.

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Montreal took Game 1 by scoring with three seconds left in the third period to set up Abby Roque’s second goal of the night just 2:29 into overtime.

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The Victoire outshot the Charge 29-21 in this one, including a 6-5 margin in overtime.

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Game 3 is Monday at Canadian Tire Centre. Start time is 6 p.m.

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The teams entered the final 20 minutes of regulation time Saturday deadlocked at one because of a goal by Montreal’s Kati Tabin just 32 seconds into the middle period, just five seconds after Emily Clark and Laura Stacey went off with coincidental minor penalties.

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From a faceoff in the circle to the right of the Ottawa net, the puck slipped out to Tabin, who pulled it to her backhand for a shot just under the bar on Gwyneth Philips’ stick side.

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The Charge registered just 11 shots through two periods, while Montreal had 15.

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“Lots of positives from a movement perspective,” Ottawa coach Carla MacLeod said in a TV interview during the intermission, “but we’ve got to shoot more pucks.”

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The Charge opened the scoring for the seventh game in a row when Sarah Wozneiwicz fired a shot through a crowd in front of the net at 8:38 of the first period.

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Montreal had a chance to tie things up a couple of minutes later after Stacey blocked a shot at her own blueline for a short-handed breakaway, but she lost control of the puck when attempting to deke Philips.

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Ottawa held a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes despite trailing 11-5 in shots.

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Montreal’s ELina Ljungblom (25) has her pass attempt blocked by diving Ottawa Charge player Kathryn Reilly (8) during the third period of Game 2. Photo by Evan Buhler /Postmedia

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