Winning a tenth straight would make them the first champions in National Women’s Hockey League history.
Hilary Knight scored a pair of goals, including a penalty shot game-winner 2:29 into the first overtime playoff game in league history, giving the Boston Pride a 4-3 victory in Game 1 of the Isobel Cup Finals.
It’s a little bit more pressure, sure,” Knight said. “But I had some good advice from my college coach Mark Johnson. He used to say ‘What’s the worst that could happen? You miss?.”
“So?”
The penalty shot came after Hailey Browne was whistled for covering the puck with her glove in the crease. The play started, like so many others this season, with Knight streaking into the zone and Alyssa Gagliardi flanking her on the right side. The NWHL’s leading scorer’s first shot hit the pads of Beauts goaltender Brianne McLaughlin and sat there on the doorstep in the middle of a surrounding scrum.
“I obviously didn’t have the best angle, but I knew she had to have at least cradled it around her,” Boston head coach Bobby Jay said. “I knew she was in the crease and I knew the puck was there. I knew instantly that it had to be a penalty shot.”
Knight’s heroics started with 4:41 left in the third period when she netted a power play goal that tied the game at three. This shortly after All-Star defenseman Megan Bozek was whistled for delay of game. In a game of momentum swings, none was bigger than the league’s hardest shot and one of its best penalty killers slapping the puck over the glass in her own zone.
That changed 1:18 into the second when Brianna Decker, as she has so many times this season, streaked down the right side of the ice and fired a backhander that hit the pads of McLaughlin. Blake Bolden was there to put home the rebound making it 1-0. Gigi Marvin would double the score midway through the period, firing a shot that deflected off the stick of Kelley Steadman.
Shelby Bram would pull the Beauts to within one with 2:55 left in the period, but it was Pfalzer’s goal 6:18 into the third that would shift the game’s momentum. Now the Beauts found a sense of confidence and belief, while Boston played tight. Two time Olympian Kacey Bellamy, as solid of a player as they come, took an ill-advised body checking penalty to give Buffalo a five-on-three for 1:22.
With 14 seconds left on Bellamy’s penalty, it was Steadman, Buffalo’s leading scorer who made Boston pay, putting a wrister past Brittany Ott and giving the Beauts a 3-2 lead, their first of the series.
After a night of twists and turns, now the Beauts must do what they’ve only done once before. Beat the Boston Pride. Then they must accomplish something that’s happened only once this season. Beat the league’s top team in back-to-back games.
“Obviously it’s a little frustrating to see a game end like that,” Beauts captain Emily Pfalzer said. “But we’re going to come out tomorrow fighting. We’ve got a little chip on our shoulder now.”
SCORING SUMMARY
PERIOD 2: BOSTON – G (Bolden), A (Decker), A (Smelker) 1:18
PERIOD 2: BOSTON – G (Marvin), A (Hickel), A (Pelkey) 11:55 four-on-four
PERIOD 2: BUFFALO – G (Bram), A (McGowan) A (Pfalzer) 17:05
PERIOD 3: BUFFALO – G (Pfalzer), A (Skeats), A (Browne) 6:18
PERIOD 3: BUFFALO – G (Stedman), A (Pfalzer), A (Bozek) 12:38 PPG
PERIOD 3: BOSTON – G (Knight), A (Bellamy), A (Marvin) 15:19 PPG
OVERTIME: BOSTON – G (Knight) UA 2:29
