Boston Pride notebook: winning as per usual

The Boston Pride remained undefeated following their 5-2 victory over the Connecticut Whale last Saturday. But don’t let the score fool you, it was likely the team’s most difficult contest of the year.

Falling down 1-0 early in the first period, the Pride’s amazing shutout streak came to an end. Boston managed to fight back in the second period to take a 2-1 lead. But the Whale tied it back up thanks to an amazing individual effort by Kelli Stack.

Brianna Decker wrestled the game back into the Pride’s control about five minutes later with a big power play goal.

It took two late third period goals from Decker, including an empty netter, to finally pull away from the Whale. It was the captain’s first hat trick of the season and the team’s seventh consecutive win of the year.

The next day the Pride had to keep their winning streak alive in Newark. It was a tight game that needed a shootout to decide a winner, but once again Boston came out on top.

As per usual, there are plenty of positives for the Pride to take from last weekend.

• Lauren Slebodnick played well after Brittany Ott posted two consecutive shutouts. Ott played game two against the Rivs and gave up two goals following the 2-0 Boston lead but held strong in the shootout. Ott has had a stellar season and Slebodnick has done her job when needed. It seems the Pride have themselves a solid tandem.
• Sometimes it seems to take the Pride quite a bit to get going. With just three first period goals all season heading into the weekend, the Pride scored twice in the opening frame in New York (both goals came in the first five minutes). Against Connecticut, Boston took much longer before they were clicking on all cylinders./
• Zoe Hickel is having an underrated season. On a stacked offensive team, sometimes she can be forgotten, but playing with Brianna Decker seems to have helped her game. She scored the game-winning shootout goal on Sunday after looking like a sparkplug against the Whale.
• Brianna Decker is doing just fine leading Boston’s offense. Hillary Knight has missed all but one contest this season, but Decker has continued to thrive. Her hat trick on Saturday gave her the team lead in goals.
• Eight Pride players are heading to Team USA: Hillary Knight, Brianna Decker, Meghan Duggan, Kacey Bellamy, Zoe Hickel, Gigi Marvin, Amanda Pelkey and Alex Carpenter.
• Sarah Nurse had an incredible week for Wisconsin. The Pride’s second round draft pick had three goals and an assist against the defending national champion Minnesota this past weekend and has 15 goals and 23 assists total on the season for her Badgers./