The Boston Fleet improved to 5-0-0, with Aerin Frankel recording her third shutout of the season, as the Fleet downed the New York Sirens 2-0 on the road.
Give Boston netminder Aerin Frankel a two-goal lead halfway through any PWHL game let alone against a New York Sirens' team the Fleet have dominated, and the outcome is pretty much a done deal.
That's exactly what happened at the Prudential Center on Wednesday night as Frankel was again lights out and New York was again frustrated against a standout goalie in the 2-0 outcome in Newark, N.J.
Less than 2,000 (1,884 to be exact) in attendance at The Rock saw the Sirens lose their third straight game after winning two of their first three. It wasn't for lack of speed and sheer willpower, but the brick wall in net who won the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2021 was too much to overcome.
Just how dominant has Frankel and the Fleet been against the Sirens? Boston has now won eight straight against New York (six in regulation and two in shootouts). It is the longest win streak by one team against another in PWHL history, and started with the first-ever PWHL game played at Prudential Center, a 2-1 win on April 20, 2024.
In the meantime, the visitors to Newark continue to build on their historical league start with their fifth straight win. The Sirens, on the other end of the spectrum, have now gone eight periods without even scoring a goal. The last time New York lit the lamp was just over three minutes into the first period at Seattle on Dec. 3 when Paetyn Levis found the back of the net against Hannah Murphy.
Wednesday's game also marks the second straight match-up in which the Sirens have been stonewalled by a red-hot goaltender.
Facing host Vancouver on Dec. 6 -- just three days after the meltdown late in Seattle -- New York was stymied despite throwing 28 shots at Emerance Maschmeyer, who like Frankel covered every inch of the crease with precision no matter the New York attempts.
And on Nov. 25 in Montreal, Ann-Renee Desbiens was acrobatic with -- similar to Frankel's showing on Wednesday -- a 33-save shutout that also featured some terrific dead-on stops against every New York line.
Frankel's 33 saves in keeping Boston undefeated included some master-class, point-blank stops against the Sirens' top young stars and seasoned veterans. She reached a whole new level of excellence that goes beyond her three shutouts already this season.
Facing the best snipers the Sirens could muster -- especially in the torrid homestretch of the third-period action when New York relentlessly threw everything they could at her -- the Briarcliff, N.Y. native was up to every challenge.
Denied at close range despite great percentage shots were Anne Cherkowski on a breakaway, Sarah Fillier, Kristin O'Neill and Maja Nylen Persson, Even first-round draft picks Kristyna Kaltounkova and Casey O'Brien fired rockets but couldn't get anything past Frankel.
For Fillier, being held off the scoresheet for the third straight game marked only the second time that has happened to the 2024 No. 1 draft pick. The 2025 Rookie of the Year had one three-game stretch last season where she was held without a point (April 4-29).
Amazingly, Frankel continues to be a fortress against the league in general. She has allowed only two goals through five games. That's two goals while facing more than 130 shots. She already has more shutouts through five games than in her career up to this season.
After a fast-paced, back-and-forth first period in which both squads had some high-quality chances, the Fleet converted its effective poke-checking into quick rushes that proved damaging for the hosts with both of the game's goals under five minutes apart.
Ella Huber, off a feed from Haley Winn, raced into the offensive zone on the right side and beat Kayle Osborne top shelf inside the far post at the 5:27 mark, and Liz Schepers knocked home a loose puck during a scramble in front for the cushion. Jamie Lee Rattray and Megan Keller had the helpers.
The tallies by Huber and Schepers were their first of the season, while Winn, Rattray and Keller have now combined for 10 assists in Boston's first five games.
Sirens' goalie Kayle Osborne, meanwhile, faced 21 Boston shots and came through with 19 saves.
While New York's physicality was evident in the 20 total hits the hosts recorded against Boston, the Fleet countered with 18 blocked shots, the most critical of which came down the stretch to stave off any attempt at a Sirens' comeback.
At least to this point of their very short history, the Fleet have owned the Sirens in women's hockey like few other pro sports rivalries between these two proud cities.
The Yankees-Red Sox, Knicks-Celtics and Rangers-Bruins have been at times one-sided in stretches, but this Fleet-Sirens rivalry -- at least in the early doings of the PWHL --has been something else entirely.