Ottawa's rise to a team that’s two wins away from winning the Walter Cup began with a trade deadline that many viewed as a head-scratcher.

Britta Curl-Salemme tied it with 16 seconds left and scored at 16:24 of overtime to give the defending champion Minnesota Frost a 2-1 victory over the Ottawa Charge on Thursday night, evening the PWHL championship series at a game apiece.

In many ways, it’s fitting that the only local player on the Ottawa Charge would score the first PWHL Finals goal in the city. After a tight first period, it was Rebecca Leslie who opened the scoring 11:34 into the second period of Game 1.