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OTTAWA — The Ottawa Charge are heading to a second straight Walter Cup Final after defeating the Boston Fleet 4-3 in double overtime on Sunday night in Game 4 of the PWHL semifinals.The game had two high-scoring, back-and-forth periods of hockey before American star goalies Gwyneth Philips (Ottawa) and Aerin Frankel (Boston) shut the door, forcing two extra frames of hockey. The second overtime, however, was short-lived, as Michela Cava needed just 72 seconds to end the game in front of 11,297 raucous fans at the Canadian Tire Centre. The goal, Cava’s first as a member of the Ottawa Charge, sealed the best-of-five series win 3-1 for Ottawa.
Ottawa opened the scoring nearly seven minutes into the first period after a big Fanuza Kadirova shot on the power play deflected off rookie Sarah Wozniewicz to beat Frankel. Rebecca Leslie doubled the lead in the second period, but the Fleet responded with three goals in under two minutes in a dramatic change of momentum.
Brooke Hobson tied the game 3-3 before the end of a five-goal second frame to set up the late-game goalie battle. Boston heavily outshot Ottawa 37-22 in regulation, but reigning playoff MVP Gwyneth Philips turned away 34 shots for her third straight win requiring at least 30 saves. Philips was perfect in extra time, turning away all nine shots she faced in the win.
At the other end, Frankel made 29 saves on 33 shots and allowed four goals against for the first time in her playoff career.
The loss marks an early end for the Boston Fleet after a stellar a 16-win regular season, which is tied with the top-seeded Montreal Victoire for the most wins ever in a single season. The Charge now await the winner of the Montreal-Minnesota series, which is tied 2-2 heading into a deciding Game 5 on Monday night.
Kadirova comes through again
After losing over 30 goals from the lineup thanks to expansion and free agency turnover, Ottawa Charge general manager Mike Hirshfeld decided to take a flier on a small but skilled forward out of the Russian women’s hockey league.
Fanuza Kadirova was first put on Hirshfeld’s radar by advisor Mel Davidson, who coached Team Canada to gold medals at the 2006 and 2010 Olympics. Kadirova was highly productive in Russia, but hadn’t played against top North American competition since the 2022 Olympics, due to Russia’s ban from IIHF competition. And at 5-foot-4, there was a question of how her game might translate to the PWHL.
Still, Hirshfeld was looking to inject more skill back onto his team, and by the sixth round of the 2025 PWHL Draft, he felt the selection was worth the risk.
With a signature hairstyle (sprigs of hair poking out the sides of her helmet), excellent shot and skating ability, Kadirova has been an undisputed hit in Ottawa. She scored 10 goals in the regular season, third on the team, and scored twice in Ottawa’s back-to-back wins against Boston heading into Sunday’s game.
In the first period, it looked like Kadirova scored her third goal in as many games on the power play, but the marker was eventually credited to rookie forward Wozniewicz. Still, with two assists in the contest, Kadirova now has sole possession of the league lead in points (5) in the first round of the PWHL playoffs.
Jenner and Leslie finally solve Frankel
In the regular season, no pair of forwards combined for more goals than Ottawa captain Brianne Jenner and her linemate Rebecca Leslie (16). In Ottawa’s first three games of the postseason, however, Jenner and Leslie had yet to connect; Jenner was held off the scoresheet entirely.
Before Sunday’s game, the Charge had struggled to generate a ton of offense in general against a stifling Boston defense. The Jenner-Leslie line specifically had spent a lot of time matched up against Megan Keller and Haley Winn, two of the very best defenders in women’s hockey who each play close to 30 minutes per night.
But that scoreless streak finally came to an end on Sunday. 3:25 minutes into the second period, Jenner did well to corral a rebound off Frankel’s pad and instead of forcing a tough angle shot, made a cross-crease pass to Leslie, who crashed the net and got inside position on Keller to deflect the puck into an empty net. The goal was reviewed for a kicking motion, but was quickly deemed legal.
The play was a near-perfect example of the kind of chemistry the duo — who played together in the now-defunct Canadian Women’s Hockey League back in 2019 — have found this season.
“I’ve been really lucky to play with her,” Jenner said before the series. “It’s been fun to have that chemistry with someone that I’ve known for so long.”
Boston’s three-goal outburst
It took the Fleet just one minute and 33 seconds to erase Ottawa’s 2-0 lead in the second period and take their first lead in a game this series since Game 1 — which was (somehow) 10 days ago.
First, just over five minutes into the second period, Shay Maloney scored her first career playoff goal, beating Philips with plenty of traffic at the net front. On the next shift, Gabbie Hughes was called for interference, giving a dormant Boston power play a chance to come alive.
And it did, courtesy of a point shot from Megan Keller that bobbled past Philips as she was moving across her crease. It was Boston’s first power-play goal of the series after failing to score on 12 previous attempts.
“We have elite players on our power play,” said Boston coach Kris Sparre on Friday. “We just have to deliver it to the net a little bit more and create that chaos.”
On Keller’s goal, Jessie Eldridge was battling near the blue paint, while Abby Newhook was parked right in front of Philips, providing the exact kind of chaos Sparre was looking for. The goal stopped Ottawa’s streak of not allowing a power-play goal at 17 straight times short-handed.
52 seconds later, Jill Saulnier placed a perfect shot pass off Philips’ pad to a driving Sophie Shirley. It was the first time Boston got more than two pucks by Philips all series, and just the second time any team has scored more than two goals in Philips’ incredible playoff career.
This story will be updated.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, NHL, Women's Hockey
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