Ottawa fought back from a two goal deficit, but a late goal by Theresa Schafzahl lifted PWHL Boston to a road win.
Ottawa fought back from a two goal deficit, but a late goal by Theresa Schafzahl lifted PWHL Boston to a road win.
In heartbreaking fashion, PWHL Ottawa lost 3-2 to Boston on Wednesday night at home. A late goal by Theresa Schafzahl gave Boston the lead with 52 seconds in the third period, and Ottawa couldn’t scrape out a tying goal in the final seconds. Ottawa outshot Boston 39-31.
Boston was 2-0-0 on the road coming into the game, and their cohesiveness was on full display in the first period. An offensive zone penalty to Katerina Mrazova gave Boston the first power play of the game. First round pick Alina Muller took a pass from Megan Keller and shot the puck past Sandra Abstreiter. It was Abstreiter’s first start of the season.
Moments later, Boston forward Sophie Shirley burst past defender Jincy Roese finding Jamie Lee Rattray with her stick open on the back door who tapped it in past Abstreiter.
After the play, Abstreiter was slow to get up. With two minutes left in the first period, Abstreiter would be forced to leave the game due to an injury. Coming off a win the night before, Emerance Maschmeyer took over net to finish the game. Boston finished the period with a strong road performance, outshooting Ottawa 12-7.
In the second period, Ottawa came out with more pace. Shots were getting on net, but Aerin Frankel would stand tall. With under five minutes to go in the frame, Boston forward Amanda Pelkey took a rim pass near her own hashmarks. She dropped it off for Hannah Brandt for the breakout, but it miss Brandts’ stick. Natalie Snodgrass jumped on the puck, with Kristin Della Rovere in front of the net. Snodgrass sent a shot pass to the net which Della Rovere tipped home, cutting the lead to one. The goal was Della Rovere’s first career professional goal.
Ottawa came out flying in the first minutes of the third period and drew a penalty off of a Taylor Wenczkowski roughing minor. In the second half of the power play, Hayley Scamurra sent a pass connecting with Brianne Jenner on a one-timer. While Frankel made the initial save, and timely rebound by Lexie Adzija tied the game at 2-2. Following Adzija's goal, camera's caught Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau celebrating the marker. Trudeau visited Ottawa's dressing room prior to the game.
Ottawa would continue to pressure, with their most dominant period of the game. While Ottawa was hungry to get a late goal in regulation, a costly mistake ended up in the back of their net securing the road win for Boston. Savannah Harmon looked for an outlet pass, but it was picked off by Alina Muller at the blueline. Muller put the puck on net, ending up on Theresa Schafzahl’s stick, who put Boston up 3-2 with 52 seconds left in the game.
The loss marked Ottawa's first regulation loss this season, with their previous two coming in overtime. This loss would bring down Ottawa to a 2-0-2-1 record and Boston would tie them in the standings with eight points each.