"Big players play in big games" for PWHL Boston

It was win or go home for PWHL Boston, and their big players including Hilary Knight, Alina Müller, Megan Keller, and Kaleigh Fratkin stepped up, clinching a playoff spot for the red hot team.

LOWELL, MA — The assignment for PWHL Boston was simple.

Win or go home. Survive and advance. Do or die.

No matter how you phrase it, the objective was clear. A regulation triumph over Montreal punched a ticket to the postseason. A loss, and their fate would be out of their hands.

Boston’s stars fully understood what was at stake—and they delivered. Hilary Knight, Alina Müller, Megan Keller, and Kaleigh Fratkin all lit the lamp to power Boston to the PWHL playoffs with a 4-3 win over Montreal in the regular season finale.

Boston’s two leading point scorers, Müller and Keller, and two key leaders, Knight and Fratkin, delivered when it mattered most on Saturday.

“Big players play in big games, and this was a huge game,” said Boston head coach Courtney Kessel.

Knight is no stranger to the big stage. Whether in the Olympics or at the World Championships, the veteran forward has undoubtedly left her mark on the hockey landscape as one of the greatest to ever do it. So when she tallied a goal and a helper in Boston’s season-saving win, it was nothing new.

“I love big games,” said Knight. “You train in the shadows away from the big moments and just have to put the work in, and lay it all on the line and be vulnerable when the puck drops, and hopefully it goes your way.”

After opening the scoring just over five minutes into the action, Knight found Keller driving to the cage to set up Boston’s third goal, giving Boston a 3-0 lead in the second period. Knight picked up a puck along the boards before feathering a feed on the tape of Keller for the easy tap-in. Keller is second on the team in points behind Müller with four goals and 11 assists.

It’s easy to perform under pressure when the rest of the team is behind you.

“We always fight,” Keller said of the thrilling win. “We’ve been through a lot of adversity this year. We’ve had some not so good games, and we had some games that we won that we probably shouldn’t have. One team this team’s never done is gave up, and that’s critical going into playoffs.”

Kessel agrees. While Boston’s star power headlined the victory, it was the team game that positioned their best players to succeed. Theresa Schafzahl set up Müller with a pinpoint dish leading to her second-period tally, and Fratkin received a heads-up pass from Jessica Digirolamo on the blueline before her climactic goal at the end of regulation.

“They all showed up, but I think as a team we showed up,” Kessel said. “I thought our second period was one of our better periods we played all year. We got to figure out a way to bring that for sixty minutes.”

Boston will look to do just that in the inaugural PWHL postseason, and it’s safe to say their stars will lead that push.