TORONTO (AP) 鈥� Jesse Compher scored the go-ahead goal with 1:25 left in the game and Toronto beat Minnesota 2-0 on Friday night to take 2-0 lead in the best-of-five Professional Women鈥檚 Hockey League playoff semifinal series.
Hannah Miller added an empty-netter with 10 seconds to play for top-seeded Toronto and Kristen Campbell earned her second straight shutout with 21 saves.
Maddie Rooney stopped 28 shots for Minnesota.
Compher was knocked down behind the net moments before scoring, finding her way in front to tip in Renata Fast鈥檚 point shot seconds after getting back on her feet.
鈥淚 honestly didn鈥檛 see much, just tried to go to the net as hard as possible,鈥� Compher said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e talked about it all year, getting in front of goalies, taking their eyes away creates chaos and hopefully good things come from that.
Game 3 is scheduled for Monday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Toronto would advance to the PWHL final for a chance at the Walter Cup with a win.
鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting,鈥� Toronto forward Sarah Nurse said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e worked all season for this. 鈥� We鈥檝e done a good job of managing the emotions and balancing and not getting too high or too low."
Toronto had some of its best scoring chances in the first period.
With just under nine minutes remaining, Sarah Nurse's shot was stopped after she made a rush toward the net on a two-on-one. However, she was tripped from behind by Sophie Jaques.
On the ensuing power play, Miller let a shot fly from the left faceoff circle. Rooney didn鈥檛 appear to see the puck, which hit Minnesota defender Lee Stecklein鈥檚 skate by the right post and stayed out.
鈥淚t鈥檚 tough, right?鈥� Minnesota head coach Ken Klee said. 鈥淥bviously we wanted to get the (1-1) split, it just didn鈥檛 happen.
鈥淲e had as many chances as they did, it was a great hockey game, just didn鈥檛 fall our way. But now we get to go home, we鈥檒l have our home fans, we鈥檒l have our energy. We鈥檝e been great at home all year so we look to continue that.鈥�
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The Associated Press
