Your Boston Fleet rolled North of the Border to take on the Ottawa Charge at the TD Place last night. This game wasn’t being used as the political volleyball that the Men’s 4 Nations Face-Off was; but it still had some heat, lots of emotion and the first tilly in PWHL history. It took bonus hockey for this one to get settled, (and that makes it 3W in a row for the Fleet) as they get the bonus point winning 3-2 in overtime.
Let’s get into it. BOS got it going in the first as they jumped out to a 2 goal lead. First it was Theresa Schafzahl getting her first of the year from the slot. Hannah Brandt worked the puck off the RW wall and found Jamie Lee Rattray in the high slot. Rattray saw Schafzahl cruising down Main St and laid the puck out for her, just a perfect set up for Schafzahl to buzz one past the glove of Emerance Maschmeyer. Stick taps for Daniela Pejsova who was dangling the puck in the OTT zone and set the whole sequence up with her possession.
The game was testy to start and with Boston on the PK, Alina Müller got her 2nd Jailbreak goal of the year. Müller gathered the puck in her own zone off the face-off win and she was off to the races. Heading into the OTT zone she went 1:3 before beating Maschmeyer 5-hole.
The middle frame was more even as the sides traded chances, but neither squad could solve Maschmeyer or Aerin Frankel in the BOS net. And then, late in the 3rd, the wheels came off a bit for the Fleet. I guess maybe not wheels, but rudders?
First it was Ronja Savolainen with the turnaround wrister from 10ft out that beat Frankel through the wickets. Great play by OTT to gather the puck in the neutral and get back in onside to make this play happen.
Then with just 3 seconds left in regulation and with the goalie pulled, Tereza Vanišová got the equalizer. A face-off win on the RW in the BOS zone saw Vanišová leak free from coverage on the inside of the LW circle and Emily Clark laid the puck out perfectly for her to walk into. Vanišová put it up over the diving Frankel’s blocker to tie this one up.
And then in the bonus round, Susanna Tapani called game. Pressure from Megan Keller in the BOS zone provided the turnover and then it was all Tapani. She broke out of the BOS zone with 2 Charge players in hot pursuit and broke down on Maschmeyer with the puck on her forehand and just flat out beat the OTT goalie over the blocker for the OT-GWG.
But this morning, all the talk on the inter-webs was about the first ever tilt in the history of the PWHL. Just about midway through the third period: Jill Saulnier and Tereza Vanišová made history when they dropped the twigs and boxed it up (full cages is a bad idea to hit eject on the mitts so smart move to keep the gloves on ladies). Not only was this the first donnybrook in league history, this makes Vanišová the first ever player with a Gordie Howe hat trick on her resume in the PWHL. History made!
I will say that both of these beauties showed more fight than anyone not named Tkachuk in a USA sweater last night.
OTT hosts MTL tomorrow afternoon and then BOS takes on NY (in Buffalo) on Sunday
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The Morning Skate 