Another ignominious start to a season for the Fleet.
If only the game were first goal wins; we would be feeling very differently today.
The Fleet’s captain; Hilary Knight, took advantage of the new “No Escape” rule and put the Fleet up three minutes into the season. Problem is that same scenario was reversed as Toronto was able to get a shorthanded jailbreak goal less then nine minutes later. While Boston showed life in this frame, it was a short lived effort.
The second saw no scoring, but a few good opportunities for Toronto that were denied by some good defense out of Megan Keller and the pre-requisitely incredible goaltending of Aerin Frankel. There was a double minor called on Taylor Girard with a matching minor for Toronto that left the game at 5 on 4 before Keller took a penalty to give a 5 on 3 chance to Toronto that they were close to scoring on multiple times.
The final period of regulation was essentially all Toronto; with Boston showing few signs of life as the Fleet were outshot 16-1. Despite this they were still tied at 1-1 going into the final minutes of play until Knight took a very bad boarding call with 2:04 remaining on the clock. Toronto would once again use the “No Escape” rule to their advantage and put the game winner in 26 seconds later. Boston pulled Frankel but Knight mishandled at the point allowing Toronto to escape their defensive end with the puck before putting the puck into Boston’s empty net.
Highlights:
Game Notes
- Stop me if you have heard this before, but Boston had problems shooting the puck, after out shooting Toronto in the opening frame and getting a goal for their efforts they tallied 6 shots in the second and only one shot, late in the period at that, in the third. If Boston is unable to consistently put shots on the opposing netminders then the season is going to be very painful.
- We got what was expected when you start the Team USA starter and Hockey Canada’s primary backup, a great goalie duel. There’s only so much a net minder can do to keep a team in the game, but Frankel went through the entire playbook and more. She’s an actual hero.
- The Athletic ran projections and has Boston just outside the playoffs, and today’s results leant into it as their model rated Boston’s offense as the worst amongst all teams at -2.0, with Minnesota ranked one spot above them at -0.9.
- As the Fleet did last year they opened the season with a PP goal. Last year they only tallied 3 more through the whole campaign, the rest of their PP opportunities in this contest reflected that path. With new rules about the first shift on the PK hopefully this will lead to more opportunities for the Fleet, but that should mean shorthanded chances don’t end up occuring.
- Are we already back to hotseat season? Coach Kessel had her seat burning until the team turned it around in the final stretch to snag a playoff spot, mostly on the back of their goaltending and a few clutch goals. But we are seeing the same problems showing, poor special teams and an inability to consistently threaten the opposing team. No decisions should be made yet, but it is something that bears keeping in mind.
- Boston will open their home slate on Wednesday as they play host to the team they opened and closed their season against, both games in Tsongas, last year.