Takeaways: Knight, Frankel Power Fleet Past Charge, 5-2

The Fleet secured a 5-2 road regulation win over the Ottawa Charge yesterday, vaulting them over the Toronto Sceptres into second place in the standings. Hilary Knight led the way again offensively with three points, while Aerin Frankel made numerous stellar saves to keep her team in it while they found their legs.

Goal Rundown

In the second period, Knight rang the crossbar on the power play. The rebound bounced perfectly to Alina Müller, who sent it home to open the scoring at 8:34.

With seconds remaining in the middle frame, Aerin Frankel made a rare mistake. She inexplicably came out of her net to stop a Tereza Vanišová breakaway chance, but she missed the poke check, which allowed Vanišová to pot it into the empty net with less than a second remaining.

Early in the third period, Theresa Schafzahl tipped an Emily Brown shot past a screened Gwyneth Philips to give the Fleet a 2-1 lead.

Hilary Knight later gave the Fleet their first two-goal lead of the game when she got a breakaway and sent one through Philips’ five-hole at 12:10.

Ottawa pulled Philips for the extra attacker with just over two minutes remaining, and Knight soon made sure Jill Saulnier was rewarded for a great game with an empty-net goal at 18:10. The Charge quickly pulled Philips again, which allowed Lexie Adzija to add another empty-netter with 49 seconds remaining.

Finally, Natalie Snodgrass stuffed one between Frankel and her post to make it 5-2 with 29.1 seconds remaining.

In goal, Frankel made 26 saves for the win, while Philips turned aside 24 in the loss.

Takeaways

1. Knight had another monster game

Knight continued her incredible season with another three point game. It was her fifth multi-point game of the season, and third where she recorded 3+ points. She now has 24 points (12 goals and 12 assists), which dethrones Toronto’s Hannah Miller and New York’s Sarah Fillier (23) for the league lead. Meanwhile, her 12 goals trail only Montréal’s Marie-Philip Poulin (14), as do her four game winners (Poulin has five). No one else has more than two game winning goals. Her latest came at a crucial moment for the Fleet, as Ottawa had been getting some quality looks while trying to tie the game.

“I think that just shows the type of player that she is,” Adzija said postgame. “She’s a leader for this team and we needed that goal and she put it in at a good time. It definitely changed the momentum for us.”

Knight’s turnaround has been talked about extensively after she managed just 11 points last season. Kessel shared some of her thoughts about why it’s happened postgame.

“I think last year, there was a lot of things on Knight’s plate,” Kessel said. “She was starting this league, trying to build a culture within a new program that’s 26 women from across the world, and you put a lot on your shoulders to try and build this thing the right way. I think it was heavy for her and I think it’d be heavy for anyone. I think this year she’s settling in, she’s enjoying the game again and we have so much fun in the locker room. I think she’s just shining.”

2. Another slow start, but this time, most of their chances were high quality.

The Fleet’s trend of sluggish starts continued in Ottawa. It took them over seven minutes to land a shot on goal, and over nine to land multiple. However, one positive is that most of the shots they landed were great looks, which is an improvement over the past several games. Still, going over seven minutes without landing a single shot to start a game is not exactly something you want to do often.

“We’ve talked a lot about our first periods being better," head coach Courtney Kessel said postgame. "It wasn’t and I think we went to the change room, picked our socks up and came out a completely different team than we started that game. Our forecheck was a lot better in the last 40 of the game.”

3. Saulnier continues to show she was born to be a Fleet player.

There were no fights this time, but Saulnier had another signature game against the Charge. She plays with a certain reckless disregard for her own safety that makes her an absolute force every time she steps on the ice, and it fits perfectly with the Fleet's style. Few players go so willingly and so hard into the dirty areas as often as she does. She may not show up on the scoresheet super often, but she's been crucial to the Fleet's success since joining the team. Her empty-netter was well-deserved, especially considering she had a regular goal waived off for getting too overzealous on her net drive and accidentally running over Philips alongside Jocelyne Larocque. 

4. Gabel looked great on the second line.

Loren Gabel has been a healthy scratch ten times this season, and in the 13 games she has played, she’s been primarily on the fourth line or the 13th forward. That's not a role she’s suited for. However, for this one she drew into the top six for the first time this season, and while she didn’t score, she had perhaps her best game of the season. She was alongside Saulnier and Susanna Tapani on the second line, and together they got numerous grade-A looks. Gabel still didn’t play big minutes, but her 9:36 was her highest total since the fourth game of the season on December 17. She’s not a perfect player, but her offensive ability belongs in the top-six. Her performance in this game should be enough to keep her there a little longer.

5. Frankel made up for the first goal with another stellar game.

In case you forgot, Aerin Frankel is good. She had quite an uncharacteristic whoopsie on the first goal, but she made up for it with numerous stellar saves to keep her team until Knight got their first insurance goal. The Fleet would certainly not be in second place without her brilliance.

"Same question every single game, she's amazing," Kessel said with a laugh postgame. "She's the greatest goalie in the world. She's amazing, every single night she shows up for us and she's a fantastic human off the ice, and when you have a fantastic human that's backstopping you, everyone's going to battle in front of you."

The Fleet return home on Tuesday for another meeting with the league-leading Montréal Victoire. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, MA, and you can find the game on NESN, Amazon Prime, the PWHL Youtube Channel, and thepwhl.com.