Inferno drop first playoff game against Furies

The Calgary Inferno and Toronto Furies began their best-of-three playoff matchup Friday evening, where the Furies took it 3-1.

It wasn’t the outcome they had hoped for but it’s the one they got.

The Inferno and the Furies went head-to-head on Friday night for the second CWHL game of the day, with Les Canadiennes shutting out the Markham Thunder 3-0 earlier in the evening.

The first period didn’t have a whole lot of action. We saw a bit of end-to-end action, but the Inferno had the majority of the chances. We saw some 4-on-4 hockey for almost a full two minutes, but neither team was able to take advantage of the extra ice, and this period finished scoreless with the Inferno outshooting the Furies 13-5.

The Inferno started the second period on a good note. Less than two minutes in, Brigette Lacquette shot it from the point for the 1-0 lead, assisted by Rebecca Leslie. About six-and-a-half minutes later, the Furies had a breakaway from Natalie Spooner where she evened things up. Shortly after, the Inferno took a penalty and the Furies went to work right away on that powerplay. Off the faceoff, they quickly set it up and got their first lead of the game with another goal from Spooner.

This period ended 2-1 for the Furies as they outshot the Inferno 9-8, largely due to the Inferno taking a few penalties in that frame.

The third period started with the Inferno on a 5-on-3 penalty kill that transferred over from the second period. Less than a minute in, with just two seconds left on the 5-on-3, Sarah Nurse made it 3-1 Furies. In the final few minutes of the game, things started to heat up between the two teams, especially with Kacey Bellamy and Renata Fast, who each took roughing minors.

While the Inferno had the edge for the majority of this period outshooting the Furies 13-4 in that final frame and had a lot of jump to their play, they couldn’t get any more shots past Shea Tiley. They outshot the Furies 34-18 in their 3-1 loss.

Both teams will be back in action on Saturday evening at 6:45 p.m. MT as the Inferno will try and force a third game. Tickets can be found here.