Takeaways: Fleet Shutout by Charge in Final Game Before Worlds, 4-0

The Boston Fleet headed into the international break on an ugly note last night, falling to the Ottawa Charge, 4-0. It marked the first time the Fleet had been shut out this season and stretched their losing streak to three games. The loss also snapped a seven-game win streak at the Tsongas Center, dating back to the home opener on December 4.

Goal Rundown

Just 45 seconds into the game, Shiann Darkangelo made it 1-0 Charge with a power-play goal.

In the second period, Darkangelo lasered her second of the night past Aerin Frankel to double the Charge lead. The goal marked Darkangelo’s first multi-goal game in the PWHL and her second multi-point game after she tallied three assists on February 13 vs Minnesota.

Later in the middle frame, Jincy Roese sent a shot through traffic to make it 3-0 Charge at 15:29. Taylor House picked up her first assist of the season on the goal.

Emma Söderberg replaced Frankel in goal to start the third period. It was the first pull of the season for Frankel and second of her PWHL career. While nobody had their A-game last night, it seemed to be more of a wake-up call to the team while giving Frankel a bit of a break than anything.

Finally, Darkangelo capped off the scoring when she completed her first career PWHL hat trick at 6:29 of the third. 

In goal, Frankel made 13 saves before being pulled, while Söderberg made seven in relief. At the other end, Gwyneth Phillips turned aside all 17 Fleet shots for her second career shutout.

Takeaways

1. A bad start derailed the whole night.

It’s never good to take a penalty less than a minute into the game. It’s even worse to allow a goal 14 seconds later. That set the tone for the rest of the night for the Fleet. They had some stretches of decent play in the first period, but it was not enough. They struggled to hit the net with their best chances, and after the first, they didn’t even get many of those opportunities. It was a disappointing showing from the group, especially considering they came into the game having suffered back-to-back regulation losses thanks to third-period collapses. Fleet head coach Courtney Kessel chalked it up to her team getting complacent.

“Three games left, we have to be better,” Kessel said. “[We] took our foot off the pedal here, thinking we’re in playoffs and we’re not, so now it’s a race.” 

2. The break may again be coming at a good time.

On a slightly positive note, while heading into such a long break on a losing streak is not ideal, the Fleet now have a chance to take a breath, figure out what’s been going wrong, and make the necessary tweaks to fix it. Despite the streak, they still sit third in the PWHL, although they are just two points away from falling out of the playoff picture. Still, they control their own destiny, and that’s a much better position to be in than last year when most people, myself included, were writing them off at this stage.

“I think it’s going to be a good thing,” Kessel said. “Obviously we’re not in a place where we need to be right now. I think it’s probably good for them to sit for a few days and think about how terrible we were for the last three games.”

3. Stop me if you've heard this before: offense is a problem for this club.

I’ve said this a lot this season, but the Fleet must find a way to generate more consistent offense. They got away with it for a while and then went on a little run of scoring a lot, but now they’re right back to where they were at the beginning of the season. It doesn’t say great things about how the team is doing that Kessel felt compelled to move defender Daniela Pejšová to forward for a full game in hopes of sparking something. After the game, Kessel mentioned how they've done it spottily throughout the year but called it it "kind of a gut decision" to try it for a full game.

“I think just trying to get in on the forecheck, having a good stick, she’s a big body and she can move and she’s super skilled, so tried it out," Kessel said.

The move didn’t necessarily hurt the Fleet tonight, but it didn’t help them either. They’re running out of time to find truly sustainable solutions. They will not win many games where they don't even crack 20 shots, especially in the playoffs should they get there.

4. All in all, it was a night to forget for the Fleet.

From getting shutout to really nobody having a good game, there’s not much to say about this one other than it was a night to forget. Bad nights happen but they have been happening too often for the Fleet lately. They now have to sit and stew over this one for over three weeks, and one hopes that feeling is enough to spark them for the final three games. On paper, this team has the pieces to go on another long postseason run, so they need to take this break to figure out how to put it all together before it's too late. Kessel believes losing can be a good thing sometimes, but there's a lot of work to do even though the Fleet still sit in third place.

“You know what, we’re still sitting in third place,” Kessel said. “Have we performed the last three games? No, we’re not where we want to be. Sometimes when you lose before you head into playoffs it can be a good thing but we still need to get there.”

The PWHL has now paused for the 2025 IIHF Women's World Championships. The Fleet will return to action on Saturday, April 26 to take on the Toronto Sceptres at 2 p.m. ET at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, MA. You can find the game on NESN, CBC, the PWHL YouTube channel, and thepwhl.com.