Your Boston Fleet took the ice tonight at Agganis Arena vs. the Toronto Sceptres in one of their last games before the international break. This matchup has the potential to be a playoff series later this season, and it certainly had that playoff feel with the pace of play and physicality. At the end of 60, it was Toronto that got the regulation win by a 4-2 score over the Fleet.
Tonight featured 2 of the league’s top net minders in Aerin Frankel (12-4-3-1 with 2.11GAA and .927%SV) for the Fleet and Kristen Campbell (8-6-2-0 with 2.08GAA and .919%SV) for the Sceptres. This was the 5th matchup between the teams and TOR now has a decided 4-1 edge with one matchup remaining, but I’d still pay to watch a series between these 2 teams.
It was a frenetic pace to open up and featured plenty of physicality and body contact from both sides with the early chances definitely favoring the Fleet. On Boston’s first power play of the night, Hilary Knight got the Fleet on the board. BOS had possession in the TOR zone and Susanna Tapani came flying in late to the possession and put a shot on net from the right point. The puck rebounded to Alina Müller at the LW circle and her drop-knee one timer dropped to Knight at the top of the blue paint and she punched it 5-hole to put the Fleet on the board.
Find someone as happy for your success as Alina is when her teammates score!
The sides traded penalties and power plays throughout the remainder of the first, with even a bit of 4:4 play for the boisterous crowd to enjoy. At the end of the opening frame the Fleet had a 2:1 shot margin over the Sceptres and were controlling play.
The second period was more even as TOR got their chances, but I don’t know if you’ve heard: Frankel is pretty good at this goalie thing.
The sides entered the 3rd with BOS still holding a one-goal lead which added to the playoff atmosphere. An icing call early in the period saw BOS with a defensive zone draw with some tired players on the ice and TOR made them pay. Kali Flanagan put a shot on net that Frankel steered to the end boards, but Daryl Watts was behind the net and put the puck off Frankel’s skates and into the net. Tie game.
Editor’s Note: Toronto clipped all 4 goals in the 3rd into one post (no idea why they thought that was a good idea) so all 4 goals will be shared after the descriptions.
Less than 2mins later Hayley Scamurra got her first goal as a Sceptre as she re-directed a point shot from Anna Kjellbin. 2-1 Toronto and the Sceptres have their first lead of the night.
Boston seemed to take their foot off the gas for a good portion of the 3rd, but they seemed to get it going after the Scamurra goal. TOR was clogging the neutral and BOS had trouble with clean entries, and then TOR got another one.
Jesse Compher got the puck to Renata Fast and she carried the puck down and around the net before coming out to the RW circle with (inexplicably) no defender within sight. Fast curled around the circle and beat Frankel 5-hole to make it 3-1 Toronto. And that’s your gamewinner.
But the Fleet weren’t about to lay down. A tide change shift by Kelly Babstock, Lexie Adzija and Jamie Lee Rattray hemmed in TOR and seemed to give a boost to BOS. The Fleet rolled out Knight with Müller and Tapani and they got to work. Off the face-off Müller corralled the puck in the RW corner and fed Tapani dropping down from the circle. Her shot on net was saved by Campbell but Knight was circling and stuffed the puck home at the right post. 3-2 and could this be another Boston comeback against a Toronto hockey team? (there was no clip of Knight’s goal available, but I got you covered)
Late in the 3rd Megan Keller chased down a breakaway and was called for a hold? Super soft call, and then while she was still discussing with the on-ice officials, Jessica Digirolamo got hit with a roughing penalty for apparently pushing a TOR player to the ice? None of it was visible on the NESN feed nor did they think it was important enough for a replay?
Roughly 40 seconds into the 5:3 (which due to the new “No Escape Rule” was played with 3 forwards for the Fleet), Watts got her 2nd of the night with a snipe from the high slot through a complete Frankel screen. Watch the replay: from Watt’s point of view, you can’t see Frankel at all.
Here are the TOR goals in the most awkward way possible.
BOS pulled Frankel but it was to no avail as the Fleet’s 9 game point streak comes to a close. Up next for the Sceptres is an away game vs. the Frost on Sunday, while the Fleet “host” the Charge in St. Louis as the last stop of the Takeover Tour on Saturday.
If you’ve read this far, then you are truly a fan of the women’s game and since you are, let me tell you about our new podcast: Breaking The Glass Hockey Podcast where we cover the women’s game from the PWHL to NCAA and everything else we can find. Myself, Linda Lundrigan and Kelly Dyer Hayes are the co-hosts and we’d love it if you checked us out. And then you know the drill: Like, Subscribe and Share – if everyone would just tell 100 of their closest friends, we’ll be doing okay. We have some great guests lined up, so stay tuned. And Babstock, if you’re reading this, I’d love for you to come talk about your career. You can find us on all socials @BTGHockeyPod
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The Morning Skate 