RECAP: Boston Fleet Struggle Offensively, Fall to Sceptres 3-1

The Boston Fleet kicked off Season 2 much like they ended Season 1. Aerin Frankel was brilliant in goal, but after the first period, the Fleet mustered just seven more shots on goal while struggling to get possession in the offensive zone. Combine that with some ill-advised penalties, and you have a good recipe for a regulation loss.

In the opening minutes, the Fleet came out flying. The Sceptres soon took a tripping penalty, giving us our first official look at the new “No Escape” rule, which provided instant results. Toronto had several players out who would not typically be on the penalty kill, and the Fleet kept them hemmed in. Megan Keller soon found Hilary Knight wide open, and she rifled one past Kristen Campbell to score her first PWHL power play goal. Hannah Bilka picked up her first PWHL point with the secondary assist.

The Fleet kept the pressure on and spent most of the first ten minutes in the offensive zone. Things looked like they’d get worse for Toronto when Izzy Daniel took another tripping penalty over 11 minutes in, but this time, the No Escape rule benefited the penalty killers.

Sarah Nurse and Daryl Watts would not necessarily be on a normal PK unit, but they were stuck out there to start this one. Watts won the faceoff and sprung Nurse, who showcased her incredible speed and blew past the Fleet defenders. Frankel made the save on the initial shot, but Nurse potted her rebound to jailbreak Daniel and tie the game at one.

The Sceptres picked up the pace significantly after the tying goal. Both teams got their chances over the rest of the period, but the score remained tied at one while the Fleet held a 12-9 shot advantage.

In the second period, it was the Sceptres who came out flying and the Fleet did not have any answers. However, Aerin Frankel picked up right where she left off last season and made some brilliant saves to keep the game tied while the Sceptres hopped out to a 25-18 shot edge.

Fleet head coach Courtney Kessel made sure to give Frankel some recognition in the postgame press conference.

“We saw that in the playoff push as well, she is the best goalie in the world," Kessel said. "Game after game, we’ve seen that and hopefully we can be a bit better around her.” 

The Sceptres kept pouring it on in the third and forced Frankel to make several more highlight-reel saves, including this one.

Don't forget this one either.

Oh look, another.

While Frankel was doing everything she could, her team did not manage a shot on goal until a low-danger one from Jessica DiGirolamo found its way through at 17:17. At that point, the shots were 39-19 Sceptres. That’s not a winning strategy, as the Fleet would soon learn.

Hilary Knight and Renata Fast were both going all-out after a puck, and Knight landed a bad hit from behind on Fast along the boards. There was no ill intent behind it and Knight stuck around to make sure Fast was ok, but it is still not a play that can happen. It earned her two minutes in the box, which resulted in a Hannah Miller power-play goal to give the Sceptres the lead.

This goal was reviewed for goaltender interference, but the referees ultimately ruled there was none. Sidney Morin was a big part of why Jesse Compher was where she was, but nothing Morin did made Compher shove Frankel with her stick. So, it’s a goal that probably should’ve come off the board, but given how subjective goaltender interference is written to be, it wasn’t a surprise to see it stand either.

Boston soon pulled Frankel for the extra attacker, but all that did was allow Emma Maltais to pot one into the empty net to give the Sceptres a 3-1 lead with 11 seconds remaining. So, the Fleet dropped their season opener 3-1 while getting outshot a whopping 41-19.

Every goal in this game was scored during an odd-player situation. The Sceptres scored one with the advantage, one on the penalty kill, and one into an empty net, while the Fleet buried one on the power play. This is a good sign for the league, which hopes to see scoring rise and special teams play a bigger role this season. However, today's game also revealed that maintaining a good defensive structure even with the advantage will be more important than ever. It's great when you have a power play and are facing players who are not normally on the penalty kill, but as we saw on the first Sceptres goal, they may also be some of the opponent's most dangerous offensive players. This was widely overlooked in online discussions about the new rule, so one wonders how much the teams considered it too. Regardless, it will be interesting to see teams adapt. Could we see more power-play units with two defenders now?

Overall, this game would have been a blowout if it wasn't for Frankel's brilliance. The same issues from last season reared their ugly head for the Fleet, with promising stretches marred by an inability to play 60 strong minutes and generate offense. It’s important to note that their strategy for fixing that was to bring in several new faces, so it may take a little time for everyone to gel together. However, they have to figure it out sooner rather than later. Every other team also got better on paper this offseason, so early-season struggles could be costly long-term.

The Fleet are back in action Wednesday night when they take on the Minnesota Frost in their home opener at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, MA. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, and you can catch the game on the PWHL Youtube Channel (except for viewers in Canada), TSN, and NESN regionally in New England.