Campbell Makes 27 Saves, Perfect in Shootout, to Lead Toronto to Fifth Straight Victory

February 23, 2024 - Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) News Release

Kristen Campbell made 27 saves, including four in the shootout, to seal a 2-1 win for Toronto over New York on Friday evening.

The win is Toronto's fifth in a row and Campbell's sixth- her personal winning streak began via another shootout win, against Montréal on January 20th, the PWHL's first-ever shootout.

Campbell entered the game a week removed from her second shutout of the season, winning 3-0 at last Friday's 'Battle on Bay Street' game at Scotiabank Arena, also against Montréal.

The goaltender nearly posted her second shutout in a row, but New York defender Ella Shelton scored with eight seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game 1-1.

Campbell's shutout streak lasted 121:20 - the longest such streak in the PWHL this season.

After 3-on-3 overtime ended with the game still tied, the game went to a five-round shootout. The shootout was New York's second straight after defeating Montréal 3-2 on Wednesday.

Campbell and Natalie Spooner starred for Toronto in the shootout, with the latter scoring twice on two attempts.

Campbell stopped all of Elizabeth Giguère, Alex Carpenter, Abby Roque and Emma Woods, while Spooner was the only player from either team to score in the shootout, doing so twice, with her second attempt sealing the victory for Toronto.

On her first attempt, Spooner utilized her speed and made a quick deke to her backhand before burying the puck past New York goaltender Corinne Schroeder. On her second attempt- the winner- Spooner once again headed towards Schroeder with speed, this time shifting the puck quickly to her forehand, releasing a quick snapshot to put away the game for her team.

The game was tied 0-0 heading into the third period, and it was Toronto's Emma Maltais who got the game's first goal in front of a sold-out Mattamy Athletic Centre.

Blayre Turnbull carried the puck into New York's zone before making a pass across the slot, which was deflected up into Maltais' body. Maltais was able to collect the puck on her stick before batting it behind Schroeder to make the game 1-0 at 12:34 of the final frame. Jocelyne Larocque picked up the secondary assist on the play, fifth helper of the season.

After New York pulled Schroeder with just 45 seconds remaining, Campbell made three high-quality saves to keep the game 1-0. But, as the play continued, New York's Alex Carpenter was able to seal the boards to keep the puck in Toronto's zone. The puck ended up on the stick of Emma Woods, who found a wide-open Shelton in front of Campbell- Shelton quickly roofed the puck to tie the game 1-1 with just eight seconds remaining, which sent the contest to overtime.

Toronto's penalty kill was a perfect 5-for-5 on the night and included killing off a penalty in overtime to keep the game tied. The team only allowed a total of two shots throughout five New York powerplays.

The win is Campbell's seventh of the season, two more than Schroeder and Minnesota's Nicole Hensley who sit second in the category.

Schroeder made 29 saves in the loss and stopped three of five shootout attempts.

Up next, Toronto heads to Minnesota for a game at 3M Arena at Mariucci on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET. The next evening, New York looks to get back in the win column when they visit Ottawa at The Arena at TD Place.

Postgame Quotes:

Kristen Campbell on winning her last six starts: "I think just keeping things simple. I feel like, you know in college I started for three years and played over 120 games, and obviously got a lot of work in here where now we're 11-12 games in, so starting to really settle in and feeling very confident with my play in our team's play. And again, just make adjustments each game to keep growing and getting better for each game we have to come."

New York head coach Howie Draper on the game: "I thought at the start of the game Toronto came out real hard and it took us a while to get our feet under us, but I felt that we were able to do that midway through that period and the final two periods I thought we were pretty quick and strong. Could have gone either way. [I] thought it was a great game."

Notes:

Attendance: 2,494 - Mattamy Athletic Centre, Toronto, ON.

Three Stars 1) Kristen Campbell 2) Natalie Spooner 3) Ella Shelton

Toronto outshot New York 30-28, including 12-9 in the first and 11-9 in the second - New York outshot Toronto 9-6 in the third period- Shots were 1-1 in overtime.

Toronto has outshot their opponent in nine of 12 games this season - New York has now been outshot in 11 of 12 games this season

New York's Jessie Eldridge led all players with six shots on goal - Spooner and Emma Maltais were second with five each.

Toronto was 0/3 on the powerplay - New York was 0/5.

By going 5-for-5 on the penalty kill, Toronto improves their league-best PK percentage to 95.1%, allowing just two goals in 41 disadvantages.

New York entered the game 0/10 on the advantage against Toronto.

Alex Carpenter's third period assist gives her 15 points on the season, four more than Spooner who sits in second - Carpenter is averaging 1.25 points-per-game and is the only player in the PWHL to average more than a point-per-game.

Carpenter's point streak now sits at five games - She has seven points (5G, 2A) during that span.

With her third period tally, Shelton has four goals and joins Boston's Megan Keller with ten points, leading both categories among PWHL defenders- The two players also sit in a tie for third with Boston forward Alina Müller in overall PWHL scoring.

Maltais has five points in her last four games.

Campbell was named first star in back-to-back games.

New York has gone to extra time in six of 12 games this season, tied with Montréal for the most in the PWHL - New York has gone to extra time in each of their last five games.

Toronto, New York, and Montreal have each played in two shootouts - New York is 2/8 in attempts and Toronto is 4/11.

This was the second straight game Toronto played a scoreless first two periods - The only two games of its kind in the PWHL.

Toronto (5-2-0-5) now has 19 points on the season, two back of Minnesota and Montréal for first place in the standings.

New York (2-4-2-4) secures one point and now has 16 on the season, moving one point ahead of Boston for fourth in the standings.

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Professional Women's Hockey League Stories from February 23, 2024

• Campbell Makes 27 Saves, Perfect in Shootout, to Lead Toronto to Fifth Straight Victory - PWHL
• Professional Women's Hockey League Pregame Primer - New York at Toronto - PWHL

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