Natalie Spooner’s two-goal night helped lead PWHL Toronto to a 5-2 win over PWHL Ottawa in their final regular season home game of the PWHL’s inaugural season on Sunday.
Toronto finishes the regular season in first place, getting to select their semifinal opponent between Boston and Minnesota.
Ottawa needed to win in regulation in order to have enough points to qualify for the playoffs, needing all three, and instead Minnesota clinched the fourth and final playoff spot.
Natalie Spooner opened the scoring 1:05 into the first period for PWHL Toronto, who would not be impacted in the standings regardless of result.
Ottawa’s Gabbie Hughes scored at the 9:38 mark of the first period, tying up a must-win game for Ottawa, but Toronto responded with a goal just over a minute later from Sarah Nurse.
Tying the game up once again, this time with a goal from Daryl Watts 6:26 into the second period, Ottawa showed signs of life, but Toronto took back the lead with 5:43 to play in the period as Spooner tallied her second on the night, notching her 20th goal of the season.
While it looked like Victoria Bach sealed the win with an empty net goal with 3:09 left to play in the third period, Samantha Cogan added another 45 seconds later officially ending Ottawa’s playoff hopes.
With a crowd of 2,620 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, Toronto saw the largest attendance at home this year Sunday night, and have already scheduled their playoff games at a larger venue, moving to Coca-Cola Coliseum this upcoming week.