Philips makes 41 saves as Charge shut out Sceptres to clinch final PWHL playoff spot

Gwyneth Philips stopped 41 shots as the Ottawa Charge defeated the visiting Toronto Sceptres 3-0 on Saturday to capture the final Professional Women's Hockey League playoff berth.

Fanuza Kadirova, Sarah Wozniewicz and Alexa Vasko scored for Ottawa (9-8-1-12), which will make its second playoff appearance.

Raygan Kirk had 29 saves for Toronto (10-1-6-13).

Ottawa will now wait to find out if it will play either the Boston Fleet or Montreal Victoire in the playoffs.

The Sceptres came into the game needing a regulation win to leapfrog the Charge for the final playoff spot but came up short.

WATCH | Charge blank Sceptres to reach Walter Cup Playoffs:Three goals and some solid goaltending was all it took for Ottawa to defeat Toronto 3-0 Saturday as the Charge secure a playoff spot and elminate Sceptres from post-season play.

Leading 1-0, Ottawa extended its advantage just 1:03 into the third when Toronto's Kali Flanagan turned the puck over at her own blue line. That allowed Charge captain Brianne Jenner to find Wozniewicz all alone and beat Kirk off her backhand.

Alexa Vasko added an empty-net goal with just over four minutes remaining to seal the victory.

The Charge opened the scoring early in the second.

With a battle in front for the puck Michela Cava made a cross-crease pass to Kadirova, who took the pass off her skate to her stick to beat Kirk to the short side.

The goal changed the momentum of the game. Toronto dominated play early in the contest but the Charge fed off the energy of the goal and had sustained pressure numerous times throughout the period.

The Sceptres had two power-play opportunities but were unable to capitalize.

A scoreless first saw both teams generate solid chances.

Toronto challenged Philips right off the opening draw with Blayre Turnbull and Maggie Connors firing off a couple good chances.

Ottawa thought it had opened the scoring near the seven-minute mark when Brooke McQuigge fired a shot that initially looked like a goal. But the review showed the puck hit the crossbar and never crossed the goal line.

Ottawa's Brooke Hobson returned to the lineup after missing the last seven games with an upper body injury.

Victoire claim top seed with shootout win

Lina Ljungblom's shootout goal helped the visiting Montreal Victoire beat the Seattle Torrent 2-1 on Saturday night in the final game of the regular season to secure the No. 1 seed in the Professional Women's Hockey League playoffs for the second consecutive season.

The Victoire (17-5-2-6) have 62 points, tied with Boston for most in the PWHL, but hold the tiebreaker over the Fleet. Montreal will pick its first-round opponent between third-seeded Minnesota and No. 4 seed Ottawa.

Abby Roque scored with a 5-on-3 advantage at the 7:25 mark in the second period to give Montreal a 1-0 lead.

Ann-Renée Desbiens had 23 saves for the Victoire.

WATCH | Victoire sink Torrent in shootout, secure No. 1 seed:Lina Ljungblom scores in the sixth round of the shootout to lift Montreal to a 2-1 victory. The Victoire will select their first-round opponent, which will either be the Minnesota Frost or the Ottawa Charge. Seattle's loss means the Vancouver Goldeneyes will have the first pick in the PWHL Draft. Montreal's Marie-Philip Poulin and Maureen Murphy were both back in action after being on long-term injured reserve.

The Torrent (8-1-4-17) — who have 30 points this season, fewest in PWHL — could have secured the No. 1 overall selection in the 2026 PWHL entry draft with a win. Vancouver will have the first pick.

Seattle's Alex Carpenter scored with 9:49 left in the third period to make it 1-1.

Montreal's Marie-Philip Poulin and Maureen Murphy returned from injuries that had sidelined the pair since mid-March.

The Torrent set a season high for attendance at 17,151.

Goldeneyes top Frost in OT to close debut season

Defender Sophie Jaques scored at 1:24 of overtime to give the Vancouver Goldeneyes a 4-3 victory over the visiting Minnesota Frost on Saturday.

Jaques took a pass from Hannah Miller and fired a shot over goaltender Marlene Boissonnault's shoulder for her ninth goal of the season.

The Goldeneyes, who wrapped up their inaugural season finishing seventh in the eight-team league, entered the third period ahead 3-1.

Kelly Pannek and Klara Hymlarova scored third-period goals for the Frost to tie the game and force overtime.

WATCH | Goldeneyes finish season with OT victory over Frost:Sophie Jaques lifts Vancouver to a 4-3 overtime victory over Minnesota. The Goldeneyes, who had already been eliminated from post-season contention, finish the season in 6th place, while the Frost had already locked down the third seed in the Walter Cup Playoffs.

Kendall Coyne Schofield opened the scoring for Minnesota at 4:04 of the first period.

Jenn Gardiner, who finished with a goal and two assists for Vancouver, tied the game 49 seconds later.

Sarah Nurse and Miller also scored for the Goldeneyes, who won their fourth consecutive game to finish with 37 points (9-3-4-14).

The two-time defending champion Frost finish in third place with 50 points (13-354-9). They head into the playoffs having lost four in a row.

Goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer stopped 28 shots for Vancouver, while Boissonnault, making her first PWHL start, stopped 20 shots for Minnesota.

Pannek cut Vancouver's lead to 3-2 with 62 seconds gone in the third period, scoring on a rebound for her 16th goal of the season. Miller's power-play goal earlier in the second period put Vancouver ahead 3-1.

Fleet blank Sirens

Jessie Eldridge scored the first of four Boston goals in the third period, and Aerin Frankel finished with 30 saves to lead the Fleet to a 4-0 victory over the visiting New York Sirens on Saturday, closing out the regular season.

Boston (16-5-4-5) had already clinched a post-season spot.

Frankel has eight shutouts this season and extended her scoreless streak against the Sirens to 130:54.

Eldridge used an assist from Megan Keller to score 2:53 into the final period and end a scoreless tie. It was the 14th goal for Eldridge and her seventh in her last eight matches.

Ella Huber gave the Fleet a two-goal lead less than five minutes later. Keller notched her 15th assist on a power-play goal by Haley Winn for a 3-0 lead, and Jill Saulnier scored into an empty net with 5:04 remaining to finish.

It was the fourth goal for Huber, the fifth for Winn and the second for Saulnier. Liz Schepers had two assists.

Frankel had 16 saves in the first period, while her teammates got off just one shot.

Micah Zandee-Hart had a shot hit the crossbar in the final seconds of the second period for New York, which had an 8-7 edge in shots.

The Fleet fired off 16 shots in the final period against Callie Shanahan, who finished with 24 saves in her fourth start of the season for New York (9-3-3-15).