The Fleet began their new era under first-year head coach Kris Sparre with a 2-0 shutout win Sunday over the Montreal Victoire at Tsongas Center in Lowell, Mass.
It didn’t take long for Boston to take a 1-0 lead when Susanna Tapani lit the lamp just 73 seconds into the first period. The Finland native sent the puck toward the front of the net, and as luck would have it for the Fleet, it deflected off a Montreal stick and into the back of the net behind Ann-Renée Desbiens.
“Not a shot for sure,” Tapani said with a laugh. “But, it was not like a pass either. Just trying to get (the puck) to the net, and yeah, just create a rebound.”
The Victoire were called for seven penalties in the game, including two on the same play in the second period on star forward Marie-Philip Poulin.
“I’ve never actually seen that before in my hockey career,” Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie said. “So, yeah, that was interesting.”
The Fleet were unable to cash in with Poulin in the box for four minutes, but Boston scored on the advantage early in the third period.
With a bit of chaos in front of the Victoire net, new Fleet captain Megan Keller scored her first goal of the season when she collected the loose puck and put it into the empty net with Desbiens out of position.
“If a power play gets you one in a game, they’ve done their job,” Sparre said of his team going 1-for-6 on the advantage. “The top power plays are 25 to 30% in the best leagues in the world. That just means that you’re only scoring one every four power plays.
“When we needed one in the third period, they came through. Honestly, I thought they were very, very dangerous all night. I thought they created a lot of opportunities and just like everything else, it’s Game 1 so we’re not sitting there going, ‘This is the best power play in the world.’ It certainly gives us a good sample size to get into video and start to dissect things.”
Here are more notes from Boston’s home-opener against Montreal:
— Aerin Frankel turned aside 25 Victoire shots for her first shutout of the season.
“I’m just excited we got our first win at home in front of all these fans. It feels good,” Frankel said of her perfect night between the pipes. “I felt like I was seeing the puck well, but (my teammates) really helped me out tonight. Our systems are suffocating and hard to play against. So, they made my job pretty easy.”
— Earning his first win in his first game as head coach was certainly special for Sparre.
“It was awesome. It’ll be a night for me that I’ll never forget,” he said. “It’s my 10th year coaching. I’ve been an assistant for nine years in multiple leagues. To be able to stand behind the bench in a great city … the fans brought it tonight right from the start. During the introductions, I was really, really impressed with how loud the fans were and how into it they were throughout the game.”
— Boston will travel north of the border Saturday for their first matchup against the Toronto Sceptres. Puck drop from Coca-Cola Coliseum is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET on NESN and the league’s YouTube channel.
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