Takeaways: Knight, Müller Power Fleet to Gritty 4-1 Win Over Sirens

In the second half of back-to-back matinées, the Boston Fleet secured a gritty 4-1 win over the New York Sirens. Hilary Knight and Alina Müller combined for five points as the Fleet catapulted to second place in the standings, thanks to a game in hand over Minnesota and Toronto, who they're tied with in raw points. The Fleet are undefeated against the Sirens this season and have won four of their past five games (11 total points). Meanwhile, the Sirens are mired in a five-game skid in which they've banked just one point.

Goal Rundown

Less than a minute into the game’s first power play, Müller sent a juicy Knight rebound home to make it 1-0 at 11:40 of the first. 

Just 50 seconds into the middle frame, Sophie Shirley was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for a check to the head. Over halfway through it, goaltender Kayle Osborne sprung Jessie Eldridge on a breakaway, who didn’t miss the opportunity to tie the game. It was Osborne’s first PWHL point.

Later in the second period, Müller sprung Knight with a bounce pass off the boards, and Knight ripped a shot past Osborne to retake the lead for the Fleet at 14:27.

After a dogged effort all shift, Jamie Lee Rattray was behind the net when she bounced a puck off Osborne and in to make it 3-1 Fleet at 7:36 of the third period. Rattray has four points in her past four games after managing just one in her first 13 this season.

Finally, Knight potted one into the empty net at 17:45 to complete the first two-goal and three-point game of her PWHL career. Her eight goals this season lead the Fleet and are tied with Toronto’s Hannah Miller for second in the league, behind only Montréal’s Marie-Philip Poulin. Her 16 points also lead the Fleet and sit fourth in the league.

In goal, Aerin Frankel made 35 saves for the win, while Osborne made 19 saves in the loss.

Takeaways

1. Don’t separate Knight and Müller again.

In the second period of their Feb. 16 game, Boston head coach Courtney Kessel swapped Sophie Shirley and Hilary Knight in the lineup. The resulting Knight-Müller second-line wing pair has since produced three goals and six points, and both have notched an additional empty-net goal. It's safe to say this is a pairing the Fleet should keep together for the foreseeable future. Sure, Knight and Hannah Bilka also have good chemistry, but this is a great opportunity to see if Bilka clicks with anyone else upon her return. More balanced scoring is something the Fleet have searched for all season, and it gets easier to try some new combinations when you know you still have something that works like Knight and Müller.

2. Another Fleet-Sirens game, another penalty palooza.

We got a brief break from nasty Fleet-Sirens games, but the teams made their hatred for each other clear again in their fourth meeting. Even without Shirley's ten-minute misconduct, the clubs combined for seven penalties and 17 penalty minutes. Of the seven, five were for physicality-related offenses (check to the head, interference, cross-checking, and boarding). The only game in their season series that hasn’t crossed the 15-penalty-minute mark was last game, and even that one had 12. Part of this can be attributed to familiarity breeding contempt as they’ve met in three of their past five games, but even with that considered, there seems to be an extra level of hate between these two.

3. Frankel and the rest of the Fleet penalty kill were outstanding.

Perhaps the biggest thing that propelled the Fleet to victory was Frankel and the rest of the penalty kill. In the second period alone, they had to kill off a five-minute major and a full two-minute 5v3. The Sirens managed to pepper Frankel with 11 shots on those opportunities, but they tallied just one goal despite having the second-ranked power play. If the Sirens had taken the lead at any point, this easily could have been a much different game. They’ve been struggling mightily to score, so any goals you give them can be dangerous. It would be wonderful if the Fleet would stop taking so many penalties, but at least they have the second-ranked penalty kill to help offset it.

4. All in all, a professional win in the Fleet’s first-ever set of back-to-back games.

All things considered, this was just a professional win from the Fleet in a tough circumstance. Sunday’s game ended barely 24 hours before this one began, and then they got delayed traveling to New York. It would’ve been understandable (but not ideal) if they didn’t have much jump today, yet they still came out and took care of business to secure just their second regulation road win of the season. It wasn’t the flashiest game, but these are the character wins you build on.

“A little bit of a gritty win on our side,” Kessel said. “We've been on the road- trains, planes and buses and so I think coming in here, we knew we were going to have to grind it out a little bit. I think that's what our team did, and it shows the character to every single player we have in t.” 

The Fleet will be back in action Thursday night when they take on the Ottawa Charge. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET at TD Place in Ottawa, ON, and you can find the game on NESN, TSN, the PWHL Youtube Channel, and thepwhl.com.