Gabbie Hughes scored her second of the night in the dying seconds of overtime to give the Ottawa Charge the crucial extra point in their 5-4 win over the New York Sirens. Both teams are currently on the outside looking in at playoff spots, with the Sirens losing eight straight.
Hughes also opened the scoring in the game before assisting on an Emily Clark marker. Shiann Darkangelo also scored for Ottawa, while Taylor House notched her first PWHL goal in the game redirecting a Stephanie Markowski shot. Originally the goal was credited to Markowski.
“I was excited for (Stephanie) Markowski, but yeah, there’s a lot of plays that led to that shot,” said House. “I’m a big body, so I do like to screen. So it’s kind of a ‘me’ goal to get. I’m just excited to be a part of the group. I wasn’t sure I tipped it. I knew I swung, and I had people say it moved!”
It was a big goal for House and the Charge, but no goal was bigger on the night than Hughes’ overtime winner.
“I’ll be quite honest. In those kinds of moments, you get a little bit of a blackout,” said Hughes.” You get adrenaline pumping. I remember the play was almost going in our end and telling myself I needed to make up for this. When the puck got on my stick, I hurried up. We’ve been saying all game long that we need to shoot the puck. I think that was my number one thing. My initial thought was to pass, and I could hear the coach say shoot and I did. It worked out!”
On the other side of the puck, Sarah Fillier and Alex Carpenter each had a goal and an assist, while Ella Shelton and Abby Roque also scored. New York knows they’re moving into do or die time to put points on the board.
“Whether we are playing Boston or Ottawa, or whoever, we’re getting down to crunch time and to the point of the season where points are always important,” said New York head coach Greg Fargo. “You can sense it as we are nearing the end of the season as it’s coming quickly – therefore when points matter, it becomes more of a physical game.”
Both teams now have several days to regroup as New York doesn’t play again until March 5, while Ottawa is off until March 7.
