Game of inches: The PWHL's Walter Cup playoffs have been a collection of close contests

It's really hard to score in the PWHL, and in the playoffs, it's even harder.

Every game except for two this postseason have been decided by just one goal.

The first two games of the Walter Cup final between the Ottawa Charge and Montreal Victoire required overtime. The third game looked to be headed there, too, until Ottawa forward Rebecca Leslie's game-winning goal came with just 56 seconds left on the clock.

That's by design. The league and all of its teams are owned by one entity. When the league was created, the goal was for every team to have the same resources and the same chance of winning on any given night.

It means you aren't seeing 8-3 or even 4-1 games, like we've seen in the NHL playoffs.

"It’s just created an incredible environment," Charge head coach Carla MacLeod said after her team's win on Monday night. "My hair is maybe a little greyer than other days, but in the same breath, I wouldn’t trade it. This is what you want. This is how you grow the game and man, the product is unbelievable."

Ottawa stays alive in PWHL final, Leslie scores winner in final minute over Montreal

It means teams need to focus on managing the last few minutes of a game, knowing that any lead is likely to be a slim one.

It's something the Montreal Victoire will look to improve on Wednesday, when the team has another chance to win a championship. Montreal leads the best-of-five Walter Cup final series against Ottawa, 2-1.

The Victoire opened the scoring in the third period of Monday's Game 3, but couldn't hold the lead. Ottawa seized the momentum in front of a playoff-record crowd of nearly 17,000 fans, and scored two unanswered goals in the final five minutes of the game.

"I think both teams are desperate to find a way to come out