BOSTON, Mass. (November 18, 2018) – After dropping the first half of a back-to-back series with the Boston Pride on Saturday, the Buffalo Beauts took an early 2-0 lead in Sunday’s rematch and never relinquished that lead, defeating the Pride 5-2 at Warrior Ice Arena.
Shannon Szabados had a stellar game in net for the Beauts, stopping 24 of 26 Boston shots to improve to 2-2-0 through her first four games with the Beauts. Forwards Maddie Elia and Hayley Scamurra opened the scoring for the Beauts with their respective fifth goals of the season to give Buffalo the early two-goal lead. Scamurra would go on to finish the game with a team-high four points (1+3), propelling her into the league lead with 12 points (5+7) on the season, three points clear of the next highest total.
Boston’s Amanda Pelkey cut the Beauts’ lead to 2-1 with 5:12 left in the first period, but the Beauts took over once again in the second period. Buffalo entered the second intermission with a 4-1 lead following a league-leading sixth goal of the season for Elia that came on the power play goal and a nifty Julianna Iafallo one-timer.
The teams traded goals in the final period, with Emily Pfalzer notching her first of the season for Buffalo, but the Beauts’ three-goal lead after two periods was the difference.
With the victory, the Beauts finish the weekend in third place in the NWHL standings with a 3-3-0 record.
The team will return to action on Saturday, December 8 for a Buffalo hockey doubleheader as the Beauts will play at 6 p.m. at Harborcenter after the Buffalo Sabres face off against the Philadelphia Flyers at 1 p.m. at KeyBank Center.
