Takeaways: Keller Powers Fleet to Win Over Sirens, 4-2

It wasn't perfect, but the Boston Fleet sent themselves into the first international break with a 4-2 win over the New York Sirens on Sunday afternoon. It marked the Fleet's first win of the season and the Siren's first loss.

Goal Rundown

Hannah Bilka thought she got her first PWHL goal 6:24 into the opening frame, but it was ruled no-goal on the ice and a review confirmed that the puck did not fully cross the goal line.

Susanna Tapani opened the scoring 7:31 into the first period with a silky five-hole goal.

Paetyn Levis tied it up with a nice one-touch shot off a Sarah Fillier feed just over six minutes later. It was her first PWHL goal.

As the period wound down, Boston found themselves with 54 seconds of a 5v3. 37 seconds and several good looks later, Sydney Bard sent her own rebound home for her first PWHL goal. 

Less than five minutes into the second period, New York got a 5v3 of their own. Just after the first penalty expired, Abby Roque buried one to tie the game back up at two.

While they struggled to get out of their end for the rest of the second, the Fleet wasted little time retaking the lead in the third. Megan Keller sailed one past Corinne Schroeder to make it 3-2 just 1:07 in.

After some sustained offensive zone time, Megan Keller ripped a laser into the top corner to give the Fleet their first two-goal lead of the night and cap off the scoring. Shay Maloney picked up her first PWHL point with the secondary assist on the goal.

In net, Aerin Frankel made 25 saves for the Fleet, while Corinne Schroeder posted 23 for the Sirens.

Takeaways

1. Keller Comes Alive

After a quiet first two games, Megan Keller reminded everyone that she is one of the best defenders in the world. She was strong defensively and added two third-period goals off beautiful point shots. If the Fleet hope to build on this win, they need Keller to keep this form.

“She’s tremendous,” Boston head coach Courtney Kessel said postgame. “I said in the locker room, she’s the best D in the world and I stand by that and I think if she shows up every game there’s no one in this league that can beat us.”

2. The Fleet must be more disciplined.

The Fleet took six penalties in this game after taking seven through the first two. They had all the momentum heading into the second period, but after Roque tied it on the power play, the Fleet struggled to get going again. The third period was better at 5v5, but they took three other penalties. If it wasn’t for Frankel’s brilliance, there’s a good chance that would’ve led to disaster. Even seven penalties in two games is too many, so Boston needs to work on discipline going forward. Every team is too good to be giving them that many opportunities to take over the game.

3. Penalty reviews still need work.

2:45 into the second period, Susanna Tapani sent New York’s Sarah Fillier into the open bench door. It was an unnecessary hit that could’ve ended poorly, so it was initially ruled a five-minute major for roughing. However, after review, it was downgraded to two minutes. 

When asked what the explanation was after the game, New York head coach Greg Fargo said the officials told him the video they had was inconclusive/they couldn't see the play, so the call was made in collaboration with the situation room in Toronto, which ruled that it was worthy of a minor per PWHL rule 51. This is the correct call since a major penalty for roughing should only be assessed to a player "who pulls an opponent’s hair, bites her opponent, or grabs the facial protection, helmet, chin strap, or throat protector of an opponent with a minimal degree of violence without using it to gain an advantage or to inflict punishment or injury." As for the rules governing reviews, Rule 20.6 "On-Ice Review of Major Penalties" states that "the Referee shall have the following options following such review: (i) confirming their original Match Penalty call; or (ii) reducing her original Match Penalty call to a lesser penalty for the same infraction." Since there is a spot (Rule 21.5) for review of match penalties which features the same paragraph, I am working under the assumption the rules are the same and they just forgot to change the term to "major."

While technically the correct call, this play still should have been a major penalty for an illegal check. There was no reason for Tapani to hit Fillier. The puck was long gone and Fillier was leaving it ice. It was a mindless play with no apparent ill intent behind it, but it was extremely dangerous and needed to be punished as such. It is a major flaw that the referees were not allowed to change their original call from roughing to something that qualified for a major here. It's impossible to say if they would have (Rule 52.3, "Body Checking- Major Penalty" leaves it fully up to their discretion), but once a play is under review, it should be able to be changed to whatever call suits it best. Otherwise, you get plays like this receiving a light punishment because of semantics.

4. Aerin Frankel remains outstanding.

Aerin Frankel’s performance is talked about every game, but it really cannot be overstated how good she has been for the Fleet. I’m not sure how it’s possible, but she might be even better this season than last. Frankel is the reason the first two games were even remotely close, and she kept the Fleet in it when they struggled tonight. 

“She plays with no heartbeat,” Keller said after the game. “She never gets fazed. There’ll be five rebounds and somehow she’ll get every single one, so we’re lucky to have her on our team.”

Head coach Courtney Kessel added that while they're grateful and feed off her brilliance, they hope they can start thanking her a little less.

“We thank Frankel a lot, and hopefully we can thank her a little less because she’s not getting those shots on her,” Kessel said. “But we rely on her and we know that she’s one of the best goalies in the world and time after time she just makes incredible saves…it gives us energy on the bench for sure to know that Frankel’s in net and doing her thing.”

The PWHL is now on break to allow players to travel to the Six Nations Tournament in Tampere, Finland. The Fleet will be back in action on Tuesday, December 17, when they take on the Ottawa Charge at 7 p.m. ET at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, MA.