Gwyneth Philips Has Another Brilliant Playoff Performance As The Charge Take Series Lead Against The Fleet

Credit: Ellen Bond

Coming into this game, Philips had made 56 saves, allowing only three goals in the process, living up to the “Fort Philips” moniker that fans have adorned her with. When the final buzzer sounded on game three, Philips had added another 36 saves to that total, bringing it to 92 saves through three games. And of those 92 saves, fans would be hard-pressed to name just one of their favourites, or which was the most important, because they all are, and all have been. Tonight was no different.

“At the end of the day, when you have Gwyneth Philips in your net, she gives you opportunities,” said head coach Carla MacLeod.

That 36-save game three total was also the 13th game this season in which Philips made at least 30 saves, another record the goaltender now holds. And with another standout performance, Philips now has a 1.34 goals against average and a .958 save percentage, both of which are the best among playoff goaltenders. To say that her performance has been outstanding feels like a rather sizable understatement.

Many expected this series to be closely contested offensively, as each of their regular-season matchups had been. Ottawa entered the playoffs in dominant offensive fashion but has struggled to maintain that consistency or to find that same gear thus far in this series. As a result, Philips is often put in a position where she has to remain perfect game in and game out, and while she’s been playing on another level in this series, and shows no signs of stopping, expectations like that are unrealistic, even for the best of the best.

The Ottawa Charge are fortunate to have taken a 2-1 series lead against the Boston Fleet, and now have a chance to close things out on home ice on Sunday afternoon. There have been strong performances within this lineup to have helped get them to this spot, but they owe everything up to this moment to one person: Gwyneth "The Fort" Philips.