LOWELL, MA– Gwyneth Philips made 30 saves as the Ottawa Charge defeated the Boston Fleet 3-1 on Saturday night at a sold-out Tsongas Center with 6,017 fans, evening the best-of-five series at 1-1. Fanuza Kadirova scored the game-winner, and Jocelyne Larocque added two assists to lead the Charge offensively.
Ronja Savolainen opened the scoring, picking the top corner from just inside the blue line, marking the second straight game the Charge have scored first against a Fleet squad that led the league with 23 game-opening goals in the regular season. Philips held the advantage for the visitors, making 14 of her 30 saves in the opening period as Boston outshot Ottawa by six in the frame. Kadirova’s eventual game-winner gave Ottawa the first multi-goal lead of the series at 1:54 of the second period, as she fired a shot from the flank past Aerin Frankel short side, with Larocque recording the first of her two assists on the play. The Fleet cut Ottawa’s lead in half on a goal by captain Megan Keller, who snapped a shot off the rush from the high slot with just 10 seconds remaining in the period. With the score still 2-1, Boston pushed for the equalizer, outshooting Ottawa 9-4 in the third period, but Philips shut the door before Gabbie Hughes sealed the win with an empty-net goal, assisted by Larocque, at 18:30. Frankel made 18 saves for the Fleet in the loss.
Ottawa is set to host Game 3 of the series on Friday, May 8 at Canadian Tire Centre.
QUOTES
Ottawa Head Coach Carla MacLeod on the difference for her team in Game 2: “I think, like this season, this series will be so tight. We’ve seen it and we’ve said after last game, it’s going to be hard fought. Obviously, Gwyneth [Philips] had a great game. She helped us work our way through some of the moments. But our group is resilient, and we believe in ourselves. We just keep building and we are going to keep going at it.”
Charge goaltender Gwyneth Philips on having to make key saves to preserve the lead: “I mean, that’s my job, right? Make the saves. My defenders did a great job today helping me clear sight lines and getting the pucks out. I know when it was kind of late in the third, I just spit a rebound right up the slot and Brianne Jenner just swatted at it. I was giving her kudos. We’ve been working well together, and everyone’s been helping me out. We all have our jobs to do and that’s fine.”
Boston Head Coach Kris Sparre on what he says to his players when they have a lot of scoring chances that do not go in: “You’ve got to just stick with it. I’ve been in so many of these playoff series before, multiple different levels, different leagues. It’s a five-game series for a reason. You want to be playing your best hockey as you go throughout the series. Our job is to find ways to generate chances and I thought we had enough tonight. We had pucks laying on the goal line, we hit posts, we had second and third chances in front of their net. And so, it’s really not something that you want to draw too much attention to because then players start gripping their sticks. But just keep creating those chances and eventually it’s going to go.”
Boston Captain Megan Keller on what the Fleet need to focus on heading to Ottawa next week: “I think it comes down to burying our chances and being tough in front of our net; at the danger zones, at the blue lines. That’s playoff hockey — not everything’s going to be pretty. You have to grind teams down; it’s a five-game series for a reason. It’s 1-1 right now and we have a job to do when we get to Ottawa.”
NOTABLES
Tonight was the first time in six head-to-head games this season where the winning margin was greater than one.
This was Ottawa’s first-ever playoff game decided by multiple goals, ending a record streak of nine one-goal results in the postseason. All four of Boston’s all-time playoff losses have been by multiple goals.
Ottawa scored three goals and won on the road for just the second time in the team’s 10-game playoff history, last achieving both feats with a 3-2 victory in Montréal in Game 1 of last season’s semifinal series on May 8, 2025.
The last time the Charge scored three goals on the road in 2025-26 was Mar. 14 with a 3-2 overtime win in Vancouver, with tonight’s result snapping a five-game road streak of two or fewer goals.
Boston surrendered three goals on true home ice for just the second time in 15 games this season, with the only other instance a 4-3 shootout win against New York on Jan. 28 at the Tsongas Center.
Ottawa has limited its opposition to one or fewer goals in five of their last six games.
The Fleet offense has been held to one goal just twice in 10 games at the Tsongas Center this season, both against the Charge, including the 2-1 overtime loss on Apr. 22.
Boston has outshot Ottawa by 10 shots on goal in consecutive games. During the regular season, the Fleet outshot opponents 16 times and the Charge were outshot by opponents 16 times.
All three of Ottawa’s playoff series have been tied 1-1 after two games, with the previous two ending in a four-game win and a four-game loss. Boston’s only other series tied 1-1 after two games also started at home and ended in a five-game defeat in the 2024 PWHL Finals against Minnesota.
Gwyneth Philips made 30 saves, marking the fifth time in her 10-game postseason career she has recorded 30 or more stops. The victory was her fifth career playoff win and her first regulation postseason win since Game 4 of the 2025 semifinals against Montréal, with all four games in last year’s Finals decided in overtime.
Fanuza Kadirova scored her first career playoff goal in her second postseason game. The 28-year-old now has two game-winning goals in her last three contests, including the winner in Ottawa’s regular-season finale on April 25.
Jocelyne Larocque recorded two assists for the first multi-point playoff game of her career, extending her postseason point streak to three games. She now has points in five of her last six postseason contests (2G, 4A) after leading Ottawa’s blue line in playoff scoring last year with four points (1G, 3A) in eight games. With three points (1G, 2A) this postseason, she is tied atop the postseason scoring race and leads all defenders.
Ronja Savolainen scored her first career playoff goal in her 10th postseason game. The defender had one assist in eight playoff games with the Charge last season and recorded 10 points (4G, 6A) in 30 regular-season games this year.
Gabbie Hughes scored her first career playoff goal in her 10th postseason game after recording three assists in eight playoff games with the Charge last season. She matched her career high this regular season with 16 points (5G, 11A) in 28 games.
Megan Keller scored her first career playoff goal in her 10th postseason game. In eight playoff games in 2024, the defender recorded four assists. The Fleet captain, who led all PWHL defenders in scoring in 2025-26 with 22 points (7G, 15A), has logged a combined 59:40 of ice time through the first two games of the series, leading all skaters.
Alina Müller recorded an assist to give her three points (1G, 2A) through the first two games of the series, matching her eight-game total from the 2024 PWHL Walter Cup Playoffs, and tying her atop the playoff scoring race. After recording seven shots in Game 1, the Fleet alternate captain added five tonight and leads all players in the postseason in shots. Her 17 faceoff wins tonight (on 24 attempts) is second only to the 18 she had in Game 1 (on 27 attempts), for a 68.6% winning percentage through two games.
Abby Newhook recorded her first career playoff point with an assist, becoming the first Fleet rookie and PWHL rookie forward to register a point this postseason. The Boston College product also set a new career high with six shots on goal, leading all skaters in the game.
Rebecca Leslie recorded an assist for the second straight game, giving her two points through her first two playoff games this season. In eight playoff games last season with the Charge, she recorded three points (2G, 1A). Including regular-season play, Leslie has points in six of her last seven games (2G, 4A) and five points in her last four games against the Fleet (3G, 2A).
Rory Guilday recorded a primary assist for the third straight game against the Fleet and now has two points through her first two career playoff games. The defender is the only rookie in the 2026 playoffs with multiple points to date.
Taylor House recorded an assist for her first point since April 2, 2025 — her final regular-season appearance of 2024-25 — after going scoreless in 29 regular-season games, five playoff games last season, and Game 1 of this series. The Charge forward made her PWHL debut at the Tsongas Center on Dec. 17, 2024.
Aerin Frankel has allowed two or fewer goals in 11 straight starts, with her last game allowing three coming March 15 against Montréal.
Haley Winn led all skaters with 30:08 of ice time and has logged 58:56 through the first two games of the series. Larocque led all Ottawa skaters for the second straight game with 23:13 TOI and has totaled 48:00 through two games.
Noemi Neubauerová made her playoff debut after being activated from Boston’s reserve list ahead of the game, playing 4:43 in the contest. The defender appeared in three games for Boston this season.
Loren Gabel, who signed a 10-day contract with the Fleet ahead of the contest, did not dress.
Rylind MacKinnon did not dress for Boston, serving a one-game suspension for an illegal check to the head in Game 1.
THREE STARS
1. Fanuza Kadirova (OTT) GWG
2. Megan Keller (BOS) 1G
3. Ronja Savolainen (OTT) 1G
NEXT GAME
Game 3: Friday, May 8 at Ottawa at 7 p.m. ET
