The Buffalo Beauts snapped the near perfect season streak of the Metropolitan Riveters Saturday night with a 5-3 final and a highlight reel of special teams scoring.
Historically, the Buffalo Beauts are no strangers to playing the spoilers and they like nothing more than to do so in a big way. To this point, Metro has remained an unquestionably dominant force since the start of the 2017-18 season and until Saturday had only given up a single point in the standings, in last weekend’s overtime win against the Connecticut Whale.
The first two periods placed a particular spotlight on the special teams units from both squads.
Although the Riveters were issued the first two penalties on the night, they successfully killed them off and it was the Beauts’ first trip to the penalty box that yielded any results on the scoreboard. With less than a minute gone on the Buffalo penalty, Riveters forward Madison Packer sent her shot past Amanda Leveille and put her team on the board for her first of two goals on the night.
Buffalo continued to pester Katie Fitzgerald, but as the minutes ticked down in period one and another Buffalo penalty was issued, it looked like it would be yet another Riveter dominated period. But the Beauts remained resilient and despite the shorthanded situation with less than a minute remaining in the period, Jordyn Burns fed Hayley Scamurra for the first shot to get through Fitzgerald, sending the teams into the first intermission knotted up at one.
The teams returned and as the score would suggest, matched one another stride for stride, Buffalo even earning an early power play opportunity but was unable to convert. Near the halfway mark however, Buffalo was presented with a chance at power play redemption with league leading goal scorer Alexa Gruschow making her way to the box. Metro’s defensive unit looked to have things under control keeping the Buffalo shooters to the perimeter and closing down lanes that let to Fitzgerald. Maintaining possession, Scamurra spotted defender Sarah Casorso on the point to set up a blast to the net and allow captain Corinne Buie to create traffic in the slot and tip the Beauts’ second tally past the visiting netminder.
Again, Packer would lead the charge on the power play creating space in front of Leveille to flip a quick shot into the net and tie things up going into the third period. Kelsey Koelzer and Jenny Ryan each made significant, but fruitless campaigns to goal before the period concluded, leaving the final frame to decide the outcome.
It is often said that a home crowd can make all the difference, and with a home playoff game on the line, the Beauts came into the third on the attack and never looked back. Winning the faceoff back to her team, Maddie Elia charged in on goal with Scamurra merely ten seconds into the period to sneak one past Fitzgerald and put the Beauts up by one.
Minutes later, penalty trouble hit Buffalo one final time, but a loose puck and a pair of Buffalo speedsters turned the penalty kill into an opportunity. Kristin Lewicki and Kaylyn Schroka raced down the ice and caught Metro back on their heels; from a low angle shot, Schroka snapped a shot and sniped the inside of the far post to put Buffalo up by two and get the HarborCenter on their feet.
Gruschow and the Riveters were in unfamiliar territory, but kept the pressure on continuing to try and rattle Leveille. Tatiana Rafter and Koelzer eventually connected with former Beaut, Harrison Browne circling deep in the Buffalo zone for a third goal of their own, but not until after Buffalo’s Lewicki snapped a quick shot in the slot past Fitzgerald to cushion the home team’s lead.
As the clock ticked down, both teams remained physical but disciplined and a little bit of desperation snuck into the Metro game. In the final two minutes, with Fitzgerald on the bench, Scamurra launched a long shot straight at the open net sending Courtney Burke diving across the Metro zone to protect her open net. But the efforts were not enough so late in the game to spark the Riveters’ attack.
The Riveters and Beauts will meet twice more before the playoffs are set to begin, both games on back to back weekends in Riveters territory. In the meantime, the teams will have a weekend to cheer on their teammates that are traveling to the NWHL All-Star Weekend as they prepare to head into the home stretch for the Isobel Cup Playoffs.
