On paper, PWHL Boston looks like they should be able to score at will. Through their first five games of the PWHL season however, that potential hasn't translated to on-ice scoring.
On paper, PWHL Boston looks like they should be able to score at will. Through their first five games of the PWHL season however, that potential hasn't translated to on-ice scoring.
LOWELL, MA — On paper, Boston has one of the more star-studded rosters in the PWHL. The likes of Hilary Knight, Megan Keller, and Jamie Lee Rattray headline a highly talented roster in Boston’s locker room at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Massachusetts.
The scoresheet hasn’t necessarily agreed. Through the first four games of their 24-game season, Boston is in the basement of the PWHL in goals scored per game at 2.25, just ahead of last-place Toronto. On Saturday afternoon, even the comforts of home ice couldn’t produce more than one tally. Boston totaled 33 shots on New York goaltender Corinne Schroeder, lighting the lamp just once in a 4-1 loss.
“I think some of our top goal scorers who haven’t produced are probably gripping their sticks a little bit tight, but they got a lot of pressure on their shoulders,” said Boston head coach Courtney Kessel. “Not only with just this league coming into play but also knowing that everyone looks to us to have some offensive firepower.”
Boston’s lone goal came under two minutes into the third frame as Loren Gabel broke the ice. Gabel, Boston’s leading goal scorer through the first four games of the season, scored her third goal of the year on a net-front tap-in to cut New York’s lead to two. Amidst a slow offensive start to the season, Gabel points to practice as ground zero.
“It all starts in practice,” said Gabel. “I don’t think our practice and execution has been great the last couple of days after our game in Toronto, so just regrouping and refocusing for the game on Wednesday next week.”
Besides Gabel, Boston has seen goals from just five other players, while many highly-touted members of the team are still goalless. One of those players is Knight, who has yet to record a point as one of Boston’s premier players up front. Sporting the “C” across her jersey, Knight has kept the Boston locker room in good spirits as the team struggles to find offense.
“This is a really complicated game at times, but just continue to do the things that make you successful that got you here and continuing to work on those things,” said Knight. “I don’t think our team has found a rhythm yet, and that’s something that we’re really looking forward to. We have great chemistry in the room, great chemistry on the ice and practice, but putting it together in sixty minutes in game format has been difficult for us so far.”
Kessel has experimented with line-swapping throughout the year, shifting around her original top line of Gabel, Knight, and Alina Müller to try and create offense. Boston attempted a similar formula on Saturday, moving around their top six to spark any offense they could.
“We’ve changed up a couple times throughout the game,” said Knight. If you look at Toronto, between the first and second, we also changed up some line combinations. We’re just trying to find rhythm. I think that’s the biggest thing."
"It’s frustrating if you’re not getting a lot of minutes, and you want to get out there, and you want to play. People who are used to finding the back of the net definitely take it personally that they’re not doing so right now because it’s making the bottom six suffer in many ways.”