Philips Phenomenal in Charge's 2-0 Shutout Win over Sceptres
PWHL Ottawa Charge

Philips Phenomenal in Charge's 2-0 Shutout Win over Sceptres

Published on April 11, 2026 under Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL)
Ottawa Charge News Release


Ottawa Charge goaltender Gwyneth Philips sprawls to make a save
Ottawa Charge goaltender Gwyneth Philips sprawls to make a save
(Ottawa Charge, Credit: PWHL)

TORONTO - Gwyneth Philips stopped all 42 shots, the most-ever in a PWHL shutout performance, backstopping the Ottawa Charge to a 2-0 victory over the Toronto Sceptres before a Saturday afternoon sell-out crowd of 8,716 at Coca-Cola Coliseum. The regulation win boosts the Charge ahead of the Sceptres by two points and into the fourth and final playoff spot in the PWHL standings, though Toronto holds a game in hand before the Ontario rivals close out the regular-season schedule head-to-head on Apr. 25 at TD Place. Scoreless through two periods, Charge captain Brianne Jenner's 10th goal of the season held as the winner at 11:20 of the final frame, sparked when linemate Rebecca Leslie forced an offensive zone turnover. Rookie Sarah Wozniewicz iced the game with an empty-net goal at 19:37 to complete a two-point effort. Raygan Kirk saw limited action in the Sceptres crease, stopping 16 of 17 shots faced. Both teams will face New York next on their schedules, with the Sceptres visiting the Sirens on Wednesday and the Charge hosting the sixth-place squad next Saturday. New York's afternoon loss to Minnesota keeps all five non-playoff teams still in contention heading into the final two weeks of the season.

QUOTES

Ottawa's Gwyneth Philips on how she is feeling after getting her second shutout of the season: "Pretty good, but I'm just excited to be back in the playoff spot. We've got some good energy in the locker room so I'm looking forward to the next three games."

Charge captain Brianne Jenner on scoring a career high tenth goal at a key moment: "I certainly think that when I'm playing my best hockey, I do need to be contributing offensively, but like Gwyneth (Philips) just said, I think the thing that's motivating us right now is chasing that playoff spot. We did a lot of good things last year to get us within a shot of the Walter Cup. That's our motivation right now. And I think Gwyneth was huge for us today, but up and down our lineup, we had players coming up in key moments. I thought our fourth line played outstanding for us. I also think our team game wasn't perfect tonight, but it is coming together. Over the last four games, we kind of knew that our luck was going to turn our way and I think we earned that."

Sceptres goaltender Raygan Kirk: "Those are definitely tough games. I think every goalie would say that they'd rather face 40 shots than 15, but just trying to stay mentally in it, you're just hoping, everybody's hoping, one's going to come, that we're going to get a good bounce. Ella [Shelton] had a really nice opportunity in the second period. It's just frustrating for sure, but there's a lot of good to take from. It felt like a playoff game. The first period especially was super fast. I don't think there was a whistle for six to eight minutes there, so a lot of good to take from it."

Toronto Head Coach Troy Ryan on today's game: "I liked a lot of what went on today. It was great to get the amount of shots we had. I would like to get a little bit of better quality for some of those shots, but I thought we were playing the right way. Playing well enough to win. Some of the players mentioned after that sometimes when you let teams hang in, it tends to cost you if you let them stay in the game, and obviously it did cost us."

NOTABLES

Ottawa has won consecutive road games for the first time this season, and both have been by 2-0 scores, following a Mar. 29 shutout victory in Seattle.

The Charge have won five times this season (twice in regulation, once in overtime, twice in a shootout) when scoring two or fewer goals.

This was the first shutout victory in 15 games played between the teams all-time and the first time in eight games Toronto did not earn a point against Ottawa.

Toronto has lost three straight games at Coca-Cola Coliseum and nine of 11 overall at their primary home venue. Their 16 overall losses this season are the most in team history (15 losses in 2024-25).

The Sceptres have been shut out five times this season, tied with Vancouver for most in the PWHL, and are just the second team in PWHL history to suffer three shutout losses on home ice in a season (Minnesota, 2024-25).

Today's shot differential, which favoured Toronto by 24, is tied for the largest margin in a game this season (Montréal outshot New York, 45-21, on Jan. 2).

Gwyneth Philips' 42 saves in a shutout win surpasses the 41 stopped by Boston's Aerin Frankel back on Feb. 25, 2024. The save total was also tied for the most in a PWHL game this season and a career-high for the U.S. Olympic gold medalist who has faced more than 40 shots three times this season. Her 13 wins are third-most in the PWHL this season, her two shutouts are tied for fourth, and her record 698 saves are 139 more than the next highest netminder.

Brianne Jenner has scored 10 goals for the first time in her PWHL career and has 20 points for the first time since doing sin 24 games during the inaugural season (9G, 11A). The goal was her first in eight games and snapped a career-high four-game pointless drought. The Charge captain also made history today, joining linemate Rebecca Leslie (12G, 9A) to form the first tandem the team has ever had with either double digits in goals or 20 or more points in a season.

Leslie's primary assist on the captain's goal was the 13th time either player has set up the other for a goal this season, more than any other duo in the PWHL. The Ottawa native has assists in consecutive games for the first time this season and three points (2G, 1A) in four games against her former team.

Sarah Wozniewicz recorded the third multi-point performance of her first PWHL season, climbing to 12 points (6G, 6A) in 27 games, which is tied for sixth among rookies. Her point total ties Ottawa's rookie record set by Gabbie Hughes (9G, 3A) in the inaugural season.

Hughes went 10-for-14 in the faceoff circle today (71.4%), representing the Charge forward's best efficiency in a game with over 10 faceoffs since Apr. 2, 2025, when she also went 10-for-14 against Boston.

Raygan Kirk has allowed one goal in consecutive starts against Ottawa and has surrendered one or fewer goals in eight of her 18 starts this season. The Toronto goaltender has posted a save percentage greater than .900 in nine straight starts dating back to Jan. 28.

Jesse Compher, Renata Fast and Blayre Turnbull tied with a game-high five shots on goal today. It's the second time in three games Turnbull has recorded five shots on goal and the second time both Compher and Fast have hit the mark in 2025-26.

Hanna Baskin returned to the Sceptres lineup for the first time since Jan. 17 and logged 7:06 in ice time in her seventh appearance of the season. The rookie defender was activated from the team's Reserve Player list this week with alternate captain Allie Munroe placed on LTIR.

Kristin Della Rovere was scratched from Toronto's lineup today as she represents Italy at the 2026 IIHF D1A Women's World Championship.

Haley Irwin earned her first win in her third game of the season serving as Ottawa's Interim Head Coach while Carla MacLeod continues undergoing breast cancer treatments.

THREE STARS

1. Gwyneth Philips (OTT) 42/42 SV

2. Brianne Jenner (OTT) GWG

3. Raygan Kirk (TOR) 16/17 SV

STANDINGS

Ottawa: 36 PTS (7-7-1-12) - 4th Place

Toronto: 34 PTS (9-1-5-11) - 5th Place

UPCOMING SCHEDULES

Toronto: Wednesday, Apr. 15 at New York at 7 p.m. ET

Ottawa: Saturday, Apr. 18 vs. New York at 2 p.m. ET

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Images from this story

Ottawa Charge goaltender Gwyneth Philips sprawls to make a save
Ottawa Charge goaltender Gwyneth Philips sprawls to make a save
(PWHL)		   



Professional Women's Hockey League Stories from April 11, 2026


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