PWHL Boston put together their "best team game" yet, which culminated in a Hilary Knight overtime winner over Minnesota.
PWHL Boston put together their "best team game" yet, which culminated in a Hilary Knight overtime winner over Minnesota.
LOWELL, MA – Heading into the season as arguably the premier offensive team in the entire PWHL, Boston has found it difficult to score goals early on, falling behind in the prior two games at home.
On Saturday afternoon versus PWHL Minnesota at the Tsongas Center on the campus of UMass Lowell, that all changed in a hurry.
Scoring three goals in the opening frame, Boston was able to defeat Minnesota in a overtime thriller, 4-3, avenging the 3-2 opening night loss back on January 3.
“I truly thought that was our best team game we’ve played so far, we had a little lapses here and there, but we knew that Minnesota has a pretty fast team,” said Boston coach Courtney Kessel after the victory. “We knew we had to transition faster and get pucks deeper, and we pulled it off.”
Captain Hilary Knight entered this one with zero points, but sent the crowd home excited, scoring the overtime winner for her first goal of the season.
“It was awesome, I’m glad we could get some sort of win here at home, so it was ecstatic to be able to do that in front of our fans,” said Knight. “The last few games have been uncomfortable for me, just trying to make an impact on the game, hoping to make a difference, and get your name called.”
Kaleigh Fratkin opened things up early with a shot that found the back of the net after going off a Minnesota player’s stick, before the lead grew to 2 just one minute later, when Taylor Girard scored off of a pretty assist from Shiann Darkangelo.
With five minutes remaining in the first, Minnesota’s Brittyn Fleming was able to score her first goal of the season, after Claire Butorac found her right open in front of the net.
Only one minute after the Minnesota score, Alina Muller, Boston’s leader offensively through the first five games, was able to put one past goalie Maddie Rooney for her eighth point of the season.
“Just trying to take it shift for shift, trying to play a full 60, we’ve been coming together as a family,” said Muller. “We work hard for each other, and it’s a lot of fun. We are all learning where everyone is coming from, and trying to help each other out.
Despite the two goal deficit, Minnesota refused to go down without a fight.
After a relatively quiet second, Grace Zumwinkle scored with just 38 seconds remaining in the period, putting all the momentum onto the visitors side heading into intermission.
The third period looked awfully similar to the second, as Minnesota was unable to find the back of the net through the first 19 minutes. With the empty net advantage in the final 60 seconds, Kendall Coyne-Schofield was able to score right in front of the net, sending us into overtime tied at 3.
Just under one minute into overtime, Knight was able to squeak the game winner past Rooney, sending the home crowd into a frenzy.
“I tried to force Maddie (Rooney) to think that I was going high,” said Knight. “To put it five hole was kind of an option there. When the thing that you are known for is not going your way, it’s unfamiliar. To get the monkey off my back was important, you just have to keep shooting.”