Takeaways: Fleet's Special Teams Cost Them in 2-1 Loss to Charge

For the first time in nearly three months, the Boston Fleet are on a losing streak. After numerous failed power plays and another tough third period, they fell to the Ottawa Charge, 2-1, in the final game of the PWHL Takeover Tour in St. Louis. The Charge now sit in the final playoff spot, just four points back of Boston.

Goal Rundown

After intercepting an ill-advised Ottawa breakout pass, Susanna Tapani lasered her 11th of the season past Gwyneth Phillips to open the scoring for the Fleet at 8:24.

Late in the third, Tereza Vanišová knocked a puck out of the air and didn’t miss the chance to punch home her 14th goal of the season to tie the game at 16:22. Boston challenged for a high stick, but it was ruled a good goal.

Just 32 seconds into the ensuing power play for the failed challenge, Vanišová stuffed her second of the game past Aerin Frankel to take the lead for Ottawa and cap off the scoring. The goal moved her into a tie for second place with Hilary Knight in league goal scoring. 

In goal, Frankel made 28 saves in the loss, while Phillips turned aside 27 for the win.

Takeaways

1. Another subpar third period leads to another regulation loss.

Until Wednesday’s game against Toronto, the Fleet were 7-0 this season when leading after the first period. Now, they’re 7-2. It’s been an inexplicably poor stretch from a team whose third period has historically been its best. Today’s final frame was not quite as disastrously bad as Wednesday’s, but that’s not a high bar to clear. The Fleet were still outshot 9-2 until their final power play and 9-4 overall, which is not good enough when clinging to a one-goal lead. Sure, the Charge needed the points more so a little extra desperation was expected, but the Fleet knew that coming in and needed to be prepared to counter it. For whatever reason, that didn’t happen. Now, they sit just four points ahead of them in the standings, putting even more pressure on their final meeting of the season on Wednesday.

2. Special teams spelled the Fleet’s doom.

The Fleet had three power play opportunities in the first period alone, and five total in the game, including one in the final two minutes that they soon turned into a 6-on-4. Yet, they couldn’t find a way to bury a goal. It’s been a frequent problem this season where they get power plays in critical moments (and particularly when they can extend the lead), yet instead, they allow the other team to build momentum by killing it off. Then, to make matters worse today, the Fleet’s normally vaunted penalty kill did not come through in the game’s biggest moment, instead allowing Vanišová to pot another goal and take the lead for Ottawa. You won’t win many games where neither of your special teams comes up clutch.

3. They didn’t create enough chaos in front of Phillips.

Another issue that plagued the Fleet today was that they did not create nearly enough chaos in front of Phillips. They got some good looks and made her make some grade-A saves, but even then, they largely didn't get enough traffic in front of her. They did a better job of it in the first period than the ensuing ones, but for a team that prides itself on playing a rock ‘em, sock ‘em style, I’ve had to talk about this a surprising amount this season.

4. The PWHL Takeover Tour comes to an end.

After drawing 123,601 fans across nine cities, the 2025 PWHL Takeover Tour has come to a close. Boston went 0-2-0-1 in their three stops, pulling out shootout wins over Montréal in Seattle and New York in Buffalo before this regulation loss to Ottawa in St. Louis. Fleet head coach Courtney Kessel shared her thoughts on the Takeover Tour experience with media postgame.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for us to showcase how amazing this sport is and how much we’ve grown and how fast and physical this game is,” Kessel said. “For us to be able to get out to different markets, not just the ones that are home for us, I think is huge for our sport and really shows how far we’ve come.” 

The published attendance in St. Louis was 8,578, which is the second-lowest of the Takeover Tour, ahead of only Buffalo. It suffered from some unfortunate scheduling with the MLB’s St. Louis Cardinals playing at home at the same time, but to Kessel’s excitement, they still managed to sell out the lower bowl.

“It was fantastic,” Kessel. “I think any time you can spread the love of our game, I think it’s so important. It’s special to our players, it’s special to us as coaches to know how far this game has come. To get a good crowd like that when I know the Cardinals are playing not too far down the street, I think it’s awesome for us."

The Fleet will be back in action Wednesday night when they face off against the Charge again in their final game before the Worlds break. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, MA, and you can find the game on NESN, TSN, the PWHL YouTube Channel, and thepwhl.com.