At the homecoming game post-Olympics, the Boston Fleet finally took its first home ice loss in a close 2-0 match against Toronto.
Upon its return to home ice post-Olympics, the Boston Fleet finally took its first home ice loss in a close 2-0 match against Toronto. Both teams were fighting for an additional three points as playoff hockey gets closer and closer, Boston at No.1 and Toronto at No. 4, and tensions escalated into several scrums throughout the night. Toronto head coach Troy Ryan the game as having a “playoff attitude.”
Jessie Eldridge had also arrived that morning after the Fleet traded Theresa Schafzahl for her yesterday. She debuted on a line with Alina Müller and Ella Huber and made an early connection with Müller that was showing promise.
"I thought she was really crafty around the net. Already, you can tell that she's going to boost her offense for sure," Boston head coach Kris Sparre said.
After taking two penalties in the first period, Boston was neck in neck with Toronto in shots, 9 to 8, and a cross-checking call on Toronto’s Emma Maltais at the end of the period wasn’t enough to find the net.
The teams were getting heated 9 minutes into the second period after two scrums by the net within a minute resulted in double minors for Boston’s Huber and Sceptre’s Ella Shelton. Stopped breakaways and back-and-forth action kept the Fleet at bay as they scrambled to find the net with an eager crowd of 6,095 at Agganis Arena.
An impeccable rebound save by Frankel with six minutes to go kept the game 0-0 as both teams wracked up shots without result. Just a minute later, Frankel was stretched across the goal yet again as Boston fans bowed down for the Fleets’ backstopper. She ultimately made 29 saves.
The Fleet were skating away with comfortable puck control for most of the game but weren’t able to notch a goal going into the third period and the Sceptres only picked up momentum. In the third, the Sceptre’s took 13 shots to the Fleet’s nine.
Sure enough, nine minutes into the third, it was Toronto’s leading scorer, Daryl Watts, who forced a turnover in the neutral zone and found enough space heading into the ozone to snipe a shot at Frankel from the side after faking her out.
It was Raygan Kirk’s second consecutive shutout, making 26 saves to keep the Sceptres in the game.
The Fleet became more desperate, and small whiffs were adding up as time ticked down. The building tension inspired yet another scrum, leading the teams to 4 on 4 play as a double roughing penalty was awarded three minutes after Watts’ goal.
While Müller went on several breakaways, she wasn’t able to make it to the net, and with six minutes to go a close two-on-one attack went unfinished after a block from Kirk.
With 26 seconds left, Blayre Turnbull scored an empty net goal, effectively ending Boston’s hope of an undefeated at-home regular season. It was the Fleet’s first loss on home ice and its fourth loss all season.
"I think we were more chaotic with the puck than we typically are. A little less organized in certain areas of our game. But this kind of marks the end of a pretty long stretch for us," Sparre said.