When you're winning, sometimes it's best not to mess with that formula. Sometimes it's one ingredient that makes the cake, and for the Boston Fleet, it appears that ingredient was Jillian Dempsey.
Demspey, one of women's hockey's most experienced and well respected players, was signed to a standard player agreement returning the now suspended Kelly Babstock to the team's reserve roster. Babstock had played six games without a point, and earned two separate suspensions, a one game, and more recently a two-game suspension for a last second slew-foot with Boston.
With Babstock in the lineup, the Fleet had one regulation win, two overtime/shootout wins, and three regulation losses.
Dempsey on the other hand, brought a winning response.
When Dempsey first entered Boston's lineup, the team won five straight games. They actually scratched her for a game in that span...and lost.
In total, Dempsey was part of six wins, and two overtime/shootout losses. In other words, with Jillian Dempsey in Boston's lineup, the Fleet have earned a point in every, single, game.
With four games remaining, Boston sits five points behind second place Toronto, two points ahead of fourth place Minnesota, and only four points ahead of fifth place Ottawa. Every game is crucial, and every point.
Dempsey had two assists in her eight games, and despite averaging under ten minutes per game, it's easy to correlate the addition of a veteran pro, who has been heralded throughout her career for her leadership, to an eight game point streak.
Boston will play what has become a crucial game with playoff implications for both teams against the Ottawa Charge on April 2 before the league shuts down for the World Championships.