PWHL Toronto's shutout of Montreal at Scotiabank Arena sets women's hockey attendance record
CBC
Kristen Campbell earned a 30-save shutout and Toronto took the "Battle on Bay Street" over visiting Montreal 3-0 before a record crowd in Professional Women's Hockey League action on Friday.
The PWHL's first game at Scotiabank Arena set a league and women's hockey attendance record with a crowd of 19,285.
The crowd surpassed the previous mark of 18,013 from Canada's game against Finland at the 2013 women's world championship in Ottawa. The previous professional women's hockey record was 13,316 from a Montreal-Minnesota game at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., on Jan. 6.
"Once again, PWHL fans have made history," said Jayna Hefford, PWHL Senior Vice President, Hockey Operations.
"With a record-setting performance on a national stage, our fans made the "Battle on Bay Street" an unforgettable, inspirational moment — and we couldn't be more appreciative."
Jesse Compher and Hannah Miller scored a goal apiece while Victoria Bach added an empty-netter for Toronto (6-5-0), which extended its winning streak to four games.
Ann-Renée Desbiens stopped 21 shots for Montreal (6-2-2), which fell to 0-1-1 against Toronto this season.
Canadian women's national basketball team star Kia Nurse, the cousin of PWHL Toronto star Sarah Nurse, performed the ceremonial puck drop.
Toronto found itself in some trouble early in the first period. After Emma Maltais was sent to the penalty box for tripping at 6:30, Renata Fast joined her a minute later for hooking to give Montreal a 5-on-3 advantage.
Natalie Spooner had some of Toronto's better scoring chances with a wrist shot at 4:11 and a one-timer with 1:09 left in the frame on a feed from Nurse.
Toronto turned it up offensively with more quality chances in the second period, while stopping Montreal from getting many clean looks at Campbell.
Maltais hustled down the ice for a loose puck and sent a backhand pass into the slot for Spooner who couldn't get it past Desbiens just over a minute in.
Just under eight minutes in, Spooner drove into Montreal's zone, drawing the attention of three defenders, and dropped a pass to a trailing Nurse but her shot was blocked.
Maltais sent in another pass from behind the goal to an open Nurse who fired a shot from the left faceoff circle but hit the post at 10:55.
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