Takeaways: Fleet Take Charge in Return From Break, Defeat Ottawa 3-2

The Boston Fleet sailed past the Ottawa Charge Tuesday night, taking a remarkably evenly-fought game by a final of 3-2. The win was their second straight in regulation, and they now sit second in the league standings based on raw points and fourth based on points percentage. Here are some takeaways from the game.

Goal Rundown

After a scoreless opening frame, Jamie Lee Rattray opened the scoring for Boston 2:18 into the second. She took advantage of Emerance Maschmeyer's short stature by waiting until she was in tight to pull off a beautiful deke.

Next, they don't ask how, just how many. Shiann Darkangelo got credit for this weird one. A Jincy Roese hit Darkangelo's shinpad and was going wide before it bounced off Susanna Tapani and slid past Frankel. It was Darkangelo's first PWHL goal and came against her old team, as she spent 17 games with Boston last season before being dealt to Ottawa at the trade deadline.

Just 1:13 later, Shay Maloney whacked her first PWHL goal past Maschmeyer to retake the lead for the Fleet.

The game settled back down for a bit, but then Aneta Tejralová lasered her first of the season past Frankel to re-tie the game at 16:16.

Finally, Hilary Knight stripped Ottawa's Zoe Boyd of the puck behind the net and fed it to Hannah Brandt, who zipped it past Maschmeyer to cap off the scoring. The assist extends Knight’s season-opening point streak to four games, with two goals and two assists in that time.

In net, Frankel made 24 saves for the win, while Maschmeyer posted 22 in defeat.

Fleet Takeaways

1. Finally, a complete effort.

It took both teams a few minutes to settle back in after the international break, but this was the Fleet’s most complete effort of the season. The Charge got their chances, but that’s bound to happen and there were no real lulls in the Fleet’s effort. 60-minute efforts were a big issue for the Fleet last season too, as was game-to-game consistency, so to see them secure a second straight regulation win by bringing their best overall effort of the season is encouraging. Now, the focus turns to whether they can bring the same sustained effort again next game.

2. Their shots may have been few, but they were mighty.

The Fleet may not have taken many shots, but they made sure the ones they did fire off mattered. Getting to the dirty areas has been a problem for the team dating back to last season, but they did an excellent job of it against the Charge. The defenders also did a nice job of getting shots through to the net, so combine that with the traffic Boston was creating out front, and you have a pretty good recipe for success.

At the other end of the ice, the Charge got a fair amount of shots from the slot too which is not ideal, but the Fleet did a bit better job than the Charge of keeping them further out. Which brings me to my next point…

3. While she still had to make some big saves, the Fleet finally gave Frankel a break.

It’s no secret that Aerin Frankel has been the Fleet’s most important player this season. She kept the losses closer than they should’ve been and shut down New York to get Boston their first win. After that win, Boston head coach Courtney Kessel spoke about wanting the rest of the team to make things a little easier on Frankel going forward, and that’s just what they did against the Charge. She still had to make some ridiculous saves (for example), but only faced 26 total shots and there were a lot fewer net-front frenzies. Don’t get me wrong, she was still a big part of the win, but for once, she wasn’t the clear primary reason for it.

4. The Fleet’s discipline still needs work.

They went to the box less on Tuesday than they did last game, but the Fleet would still do well to start playing more disciplined. They’ve taken more penalties than their opponent in every game this season and last night, they took the game’s only three penalties. Their PK is good, but it’s not a smart strategy to always go to the box more than your opponent. That said, it’s not something Kessel is too worried about.

“It is what it is,” said Kessel postgame. “It’s unfortunate. We gotta stay out of the box, but I think our PK has been doing well.”

When pressed on the issue, Kessel added: “I honestly don’t think they’ve been egregious penalties. I think the refs are trying to figure it out, there’s a few new ones in the league and hopefully it gets figured out. But I’m not mad at anyone who took penalties tonight, it’s just kind of unlucky in our favor every single game but we’re dealing with it.”

The Fleet now have another extended stretch between games, partially due to the holiday break. They’ll be back in action on Friday, December 27 when they travel to Coca-Cola Coliseum for a 7 p.m. ET rematch of the season-opener against Toronto. The game will be broadcast on NESN and CBC and streamed on the PWHL Youtube Channel and thepwhl.com (provided things don’t change again).