Power play pulls PWHL Toronto past Boston for 11th straight win

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A little adversity is never a bad thing for a hockey team that has had its way for quite some time, and that’s exactly what PWHL Toronto encountered Wednesday night courtesy of the visitors from Boston.

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Down a goal for the first two periods, Toronto rallied with a pair of power-play goals in the third to extend its winning streak to 11 games with a 2-1 win.

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The move puts Toronto solely in first place in the PHWL, three points ahead of Minnesota.

It was the first win of the season for backup netminder Erica Howe, who was making just her second start of the year with Kristen Campbell getting a much-deserved night off.

Courtney Kessel’s Boston squad has been finding its legs of late and arrived in Toronto looking to avenge some earlier sub-par performances in this building.

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And Boston got off to exactly the start it wanted, scoring first with two Toronto players in the penalty box.

Both penalties were of the suspect variety — Jocelyne Larocque for interference and Sarah Nurse on a tripping call in the Boston corner seconds later that did not result in a turnover of possession — but it put Toronto in an early hole.

And Troy Ryan’s vaunted penalty kill unit was eight seconds away from killing off the first of the two minors when Sidney Morin, pinching in from her spot on the blue line, found the puck on her stick. Morin’s high shot beat Howe to the blocker side, giving Boston just its third power-play goal of the season in 42 attempts.

It was just the third power-play goal Toronto had allowed in 47 previous chances.

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The third period, though, was all Toronto, aided by a pair of power plays.

Renata Fast got Toronto back on even terms 2:14 into the third as she came across the middle of the Boston offensive zone with the puck and found the top corner past a screened Emma Soderberg.

Natalie Spooner, also on the power play, got the game-winner on a nice individual effort, deking out a Boston defender and then following Fast’s lead and finding the top corner for her league-leading 13th goal of the year.

Toronto is back in action Saturday in Ottawa before the league goes on a three-week hiatus for international play.

mganter@postmedia.com

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