PWHL Boston has struggled of late, falling to last overall in the league. According to their coach, they need to put together a full 60-minutes.
PWHL Boston has struggled of late, falling to last overall in the league. According to their coach, they need to put together a full 60-minutes.
Monday afternoon was the perfect opportunity for the slumping PHWL Boston to break into the win column.
Boston was winless in their last three contests, as last place Ottawa was in town for the first leg of a two-game series at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Massachusetts. Ottawa was fresh off a Saturday night loss to Minnesota at TD Place, while Boston has been playing through a six-game homestand since the end of January. The odds seemed to be in Boston’s favor.
Gabbie Hughes had other plans, scoring two goals to push Ottawa past Boston on Monday evening to knot the season series at one in a 4-2 win.
Here are three takeaways from Boston’s fourth straight loss.
Special Teams Weren’t Special
Special teams were a killer for Boston on Monday. Whiffing on both power play attempts in the second period, Boston also committed two penalties in a less than two-minute span to put Ottawa on a five-on-three in the second frame. Ottawa took advantage of this opportunity, as Hughes scored her first of the game on the tail end of the advantage.
“I think in those situations we just absolutely battled,” said Hughes. “I mean, on the PK (Clark) was just going after them in the corner and passed right in the slot.
To make matters worse, Boston allowed a short-handed tally, as Hughes broke teammate Kateřina Mrázová out of the sin bin to take the lead and alleviate Boston’s power play threat. Emily Clark forced a turnover below the goal line, sliding a pass to an uncovered Hughes, who placed a perfect one-timer over the blocker of Aerin Frankel. Clark picked up assists on both of Hughes’ goals.
Newcomers are Fitting in
Last Sunday, Boston partnered with Minnesota for the first trade in PWHL history, dealing Sophie Jaques in exchange for Abby Cook and Susanna Tapani. Jaques, the reigning Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner at Ohio State, didn’t seem to click with Boston in her first seven professional games.
Boston hoped the experienced Cook would add some depth to their defensive core, hoping to slot Tapani in a top-six center role to produce more offense. Since the trade, neither player has found themselves on the stat sheet. That changed on Monday, as Cook scored her first goal in a Boston uniform at 16:05 of the second period, beating Ottawa’s Emerance Maschmeyer on a wrist shot from the point.
“It’s great, I was really happy,” said Cook of her first Boston goal. “I actually didn’t know it went into the net until everyone started skating at me."
“I think Abby had a great game,” said Boston head coach Courtney Kessel. “I think she settled in obviously nice to see her get a goal. She's a reliable (defender), and I think she's got a good stick.”
And while Tapani didn’t record a point on Monday, it’s evident her role as first-line center between Hilary Knight and Jamie Lee Rattray is starting to come to fruition.
“(She’s) playing a ton of minutes for us already,” said Kessel. “Stepping into lots of different roles and would love to see her put one in the net... but I think they stepped into our team really well.”
Scoring Remains a Struggle
Amidst Boston’s four-game rut, they’ve lit the lamp just seven times for an average of 1.4 goals per game, a mark that simply won’t get it done against these high-octane offenses across the PWHL.
Boston’s Taylor Girard scored on a wild sequence in the first period after Loren Gabel was tripped into Maschmeyer, ultimately causing the net to be ripped off its pegs. As the net flew off, Girard wristed the puck into the empty goal to knot the game at one.
Boston could not score in the third, as Ottawa put the finishing touches on their win with a Brianne Jenner empty netter. While they created some chances at times, Boston was hamstrung around the net and didn’t start being a real threat to score until the third period. The key to getting back on track is playing a full sixty minutes.
“I mean, we're not going to play 60 minutes we're going to lose games,” said Kessel. “We can't just decide to show up for a third period. The league's too good for that.”
Boston returns to the Tsongas Center on Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. rematch with Ottawa.