TORONTO, ON — Blayre Turnbull scored two goals to lead Toronto to a 4-0 win over Minnesota in the first-ever Professional Women’s Hockey League playoff game on Wednesday night.
Natalie Spooner, with the opening goal and one assist, and Emma Maltais also scored for top-seeded Toronto in front of 8,473 fans at Coca-Cola Coliseum, the home of the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies.
Kristen Campbell posted a 26-save shutout. Nicole Hensley stopped 16 shots for fourth-seeded Minnesota.
Game 2 in the best-of-five semifinal is set for Friday in Toronto.
The hosts entered Wednesday winners of four straight to close the regular season, including a 4-1 win over Minnesota last Wednesday.
Toronto went 2-1-0-1 against Minnesota in the regular season. Minnesota earned a 3-1 victory on Jan. 10.
Spooner opened the scoring at 9:47 of the first period to the delight of the deafening home crowd. The inaugural PWHL scoring champion took a pass from Hannah Miller and fired a wrister that went top corner past Hensley’s glove.
Maltais made it 2-0 at the 55-second mark of the second period. Nurse drew the attention of two defenders approaching the slot and found a streaking Maltais who backhanded it between Hensley’s pads.
Turnbull got in on the action with 4:55 remaining in the middle frame. She took the puck up ice, sent it off to Spooner who dished it back and Turnbull tapped it in.
Turnbull netted her second of the contest with 37.8 seconds left in the game. She buried home a rebound from a Miller miss.
Minnesota ended with a 26-20 edge in shots, but none showed up in the scoring column.
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