BOSTON — Shay Maloney ignited an offensive barrage, scoring the first of a season-high four goals by the host Boston Fleet, who cruised to a 4-1 victory over the Minnesota Frost on Sunday afternoon. The game took place in front of a crowd of 5,338 at Agganis Arena.
Maloney and team captain Megan Keller found the back of the net just 1 minute and 14 seconds apart late in the first period, giving first-place Boston (4-0, 12 points) an early 2-0 lead.
Minnesota (2-2, six points) fought back early in the second period with Klára Hymlárová cutting the deficit in half, courtesy of assists from Claire Butorac and Peyton Anderson. It was Hymlárová’s first goal of the season.
However, that momentum was short-lived. Just 49 seconds after Hymlárová’s goal, Fleet rookie Abby Newhook scored her third goal of the season on the power play, pushing Boston’s lead to 3-1. Theresa Schafzahl then sealed the victory with a second Boston power-play goal early in the third period.
“I felt like their pressure all over the ice, the first pressure F1 and the secondary pressure, was really good,” said Frost defender Lee Stecklein. “Obviously, they did that last year, too; it just felt really consistent today.”
Boston’s goaltender Aerin Frankel made a season-high 26 saves, earning her league-leading fourth victory. Meanwhile, Minnesota’s Maddie Rooney also posted a season-high with 31 saves.
Boston head coach Kris Sparre praised the intensity of the match: “I thought that was probably the highest pace game that we’ve played so far. We knew going into this game that it was going to take everybody. That’s a very organized group over there in Minnesota, and you can see why they’ve had a lot of success in this league so far.”
“Credit to our group. I thought we hung in there and felt like we played a pretty tidy game. Our group is pretty reset from last year. We’re focusing on what we have now, and we feel like we’re a completely new team,” Sparre added.
For the Frost, who were playing their third straight road game early in the season, the loss snapped their season-opening road winning streak at two games.
“We started off hot, and I think we just want to be better on our power play and scoring on those chances. And on the back side of that, the penalty kill needs to get cleaned up as well because obviously we have them in the next game,” said Frost assistant coach Brianna Decker.
The Frost won’t have much time to regroup, as their next game will be on December 19 at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul. The PWHL will enter a near two-week international break before then.
https://www.inforum.com/sports/pro/fleets-offensive-surge-halts-frosts-road-winning-streak
