PWHL Boston played like they aren't afraid to lose, and it resulted in a win over first place PWHL Toronto.
PWHL Boston played like they aren't afraid to lose, and it resulted in a win over first place PWHL Toronto.
LOWELL, MA — The second-period roar at the Tsongas Center was over a month in the making.
After a 39-day hiatus of PWHL hockey at Boston’s venue, the hometown crowd was yearning for something to cheer for.
Emily Brown certainly delivered on that wish.
Brown netted her first goal of the season at 14:28 of the second frame, sending the 4,084 on hand to their feet and propelling Boston to a 2-1 triumph over league-best Toronto and three points closer to a playoff berth.
“It feels really good to get that first goal out of the way,” Brown said. “I take a lot of pride in my defensive game so it’s not necessarily a monkey off the back, but my mom did text me before the game saying to shoot the puck. I got a text after the game saying told you so.”
Susanna Tapani also found twine in the middle stanza just over three minutes later, providing Boston with a cushion that carried them to the finish line on Thursday. Aerin Frankel stopped 23 shots to get the win between the pipes.
“At some point in your season, you’re scared to lose,” said Boston head coach Courtney Kessel. “I think we were playing like that a little bit, and we were losing because you can’t play scared to lose. The mentality tonight was for sixty minutes to play to win.”
Before Boston opened the scoring late in the second period, offense was driving a hard bargain at the Tsongas. Both teams combined for just 16 shots on goal in a relatively uneventful first period that didn’t produce any goals. Boston did receive their first of two power plays but couldn’t get anything past Toronto goaltender Kristen Campbell.
“I’ve liked our kill all year,” said Toronto head coach Troy Ryan. “We don’t spend a lot of time on it, but we talk a lot about the mentality. “It’s rather aggressive and we got some players that thrive in those situations.”
And it looked as though the second period would produce a similar result. Boston faltered on another power play attempt while struggling to generate any high-danger scoring opportunities. That’s when Brown took matters into her own hands, throwing a backhander on net that slipped past Campbell to break the ice.
Brown’s initial snapshot was blocked by Renata Fast, corralling the loose puck before sending a quick shot toward the goal for her first PWHL tally.
Boston didn’t waste any time building on their lead as Tapani cashed in her fourth goal of the season at 17:45, deflecting a shot from the point from Jess Healey off a faceoff win. Tapani—who came over to Boston from Minnesota in the league’s first-ever trade earlier this season—found the back of the net for the first time in nine games.
“Jess took a really nice shot from the blue line, and I just tried to tip it in,” Tapani said. “I’ve been trying to do that many times this season so I was glad it went in finally.”
However, it was no surprise that the league’s best road team (six wins in nine games) stormed back in the third period. Toronto pushed the pace to start the third, and they got rewarded for it. Fast wheeled into the Boston zone on her strong side, driving to the net before tucking a backhander past Frankel on the crease to cut Boston’s lead in half.
“I just wanted to drive the net,” said Fast. “I kind of saw the post was a little shaky on that short side, so I just wanted to put it in her feet. I didn’t actually see it sneak in, but when I came around the net I saw it over the goal line.”
Toronto had all the momentum in the world, going on a power play with under three minutes remaining in the game due to an Amanda Pelkey boarding penalty. Despite an extra attacker with the goalie pulled, Boston escaped unscathed to pull off a much-needed win in pursuit of a playoff spot.
“We wanted to go with a little more of an aggressive PK knowing they were going to pull the goalie at some point before the power play ended,” said Kessel. “Having the TV break and then them calling the timeout allowed us to set our plan in place.”