PWHL roundup: Leslie powers Charge past Torrent

Rebecca Leslie scored the game-tying and game-winning goals to lift the Ottawa Charge to a 4-2 win over the Seattle Torrent on Wednesday night in Ottawa.

Wednesday marked the last night of PWHL action before the Olympic break, as eight Charge and six Torrent players head to Italy for the Winter Games. Ottawa head coach Carla MacLeod is a bonus entry to that list, being Czechia's head coach.

Fanuza Kadirova and Emily Clark also scored for Ottawa (4-5-0-7). Gwyneth Philips made 24 saves.

Hilary Knight and Jesse Eldridge replied for Seattle (4-1-2-7), which remained in last in the eight-team standings, one point behind Toronto. Corinne Schroeder stopped 26 shots.

On the power play, Hannah Bilka forced a sprawling save from Phillips but Knight cleaned up the mess to open the scoring at 5:40 of the second period.

Rebecca Leslie's late power-play goal lifts Charge over Torrent

Just over two minutes into the third period, after Charge forward Katerina Mrazova blocked Natalie Snodgrass's zone-clearing attempt, Kadirova recovered the puck and beat Schroeder.

Stealing the puck from Jocelyn Larocque, Torrent forward Danielle Serdachny fed Eldridge for a one-timer to take a 2-1 lead 10:03 into the third.

Leslie tapped in a pass from Brianne Jenner to even the game with 5:14 remaining. Leslie then added her second of the game on the power play with 30 seconds left in regulation.

Clark then added the insurance marker 13 seconds later to close out the game.

Takeaways

Torrent: Compete to the final buzzer. The Torrent were in the driver's seat until the last few minutes, when Leslie scored both her goals.

Charge: Ottawa needs more goal-scoring options down the lineup. Through 16 games, only three Charge players have tallied more than