DETROIT, MI (March 16, 2024) — Hilary Knight scored her fourth goal of the season, along with the shootout winner, in a tightly contested matchup against Ottawa at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Saturday, as Boston won 2-1.
There were 13,736 fans in attendance, a new record for professional women’s hockey in the United States. The mark passes the previous record—also set in the PWHL this season— in which Minnesota’s home opener against Montréal on January 6 at Xcel Energy Center welcomed 13,316 fans.
Knight gave Boston an early 1-0 lead just 3:05 into the game after linemate Hannah Brandt won an offensive zone face-off.
Brandt won the draw forward between the Ottawa center’s legs, stepping around the player before continuing with the puck around the net. She then fed defender Megan Keller who one-timed the puck on net—the rebound ended up in traffic in the crease which Knight pounced on to give her team the early advantage.
After the game went to a shootout, it was once again Knight who found the back of the net, tallying the shootout winner for her team.
Boston’s captain utilized her world-class shot to blast the puck upstairs past Ottawa goalie Emerance Maschmeyer for the second time in the game. Brandt was the only other Boston player to score in the shootout.
Aerin Frankel stopped four of five Ottawa attempts, with Kateřina Mrázová scoring the lone shootout goal for her team.
Ottawa forward Emily Clark got on the board in regulation time, tying the game 1-1 at 15:20 of the first.
The unassisted tally was Clark’s third of the season and was scored on the team’s first powerplay opportunity of the game. Clark started — and finished—the play after she muscled the puck off Keller before wiring a shot top corner past Frankel.
The game was even throughout, with shots ending up tied 26-26. Ottawa hit several posts throughout the game, most prominently with just 33 seconds left in overtime when captain Brianne Jenner seemed to have Frankel beat, but hit the iron, which kept the game 1-1.
Both Frankel and Maschmeyer made 25 saves in the game.
By earning two points for the shootout victory, Boston moves one point ahead of Ottawa—who secured one point in the loss— in the standings, and now sits in sole possession of fourth place.
The game was the first of PWHL Takeover Weekend presented by e.l.f. Cosmetics, with game two set to take place tomorrow at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh between Montréal and Toronto.
Up next, Boston heads to Mattamy Athletic Centre to take on Toronto on Wednesday, March 20 at 7:00 p.m. ET. That same evening, Ottawa hits the road to take on New York at Bridgeport’s Total Mortgage Arena, also with a 7:00 p.m. ET puck drop.
Postgame Quotes:
Boston defender Megan Keller, a Michigan native, on playing at home: “It exceeded them [expectations]. It was pretty special to play in front of this crowd. They were loud all night. Especially coming home to Michigan and bringing the PWHL here is awesome to be a part of and hopefully it’s not the last time that we’re playing here. Hopefully there were a lot of young girls in the crowd here tonight and now they have something to look forward to and look up to once they’re our age.”
Boston head coach Courtney Kessel on the mindset going into overtime: “They were playing a pretty physical game and I think at the end of the third we kind of just allowed them to play physical. Heading into overtime, it was making sure we matched their energy, trying to get good changes and catch them tired. You saw some back and forth, really huge chances in the three on three, so I think we were lucky to get away into the shootout. Then it was just great to put that away.”
Ottawa captain Brianne Jenner on the atmosphere: “That was awesome. Coming to Detroit, the fans were so loud. We gave them a real exciting game, obviously. It was a great experience to play in front of them.”
Ottawa head coach Carla MacLeod on the outcome: “Every game is a big game. That’s the joy of this league. It was a great effort. It was back and forth. We had our chances. We’re working to find our way when the extra time comes but this isn’t a set back. This is just part of us getting better and building. The momentum that we’ve had in the last three, four or five games is noticeable. There’s no doubt in our mind that we will continue to do what we are doing. We will be able to reap the results a little bit better.”
Notes:
- Attendance: 13,736 – Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI.
- Three Stars: 1) Hilary Knight 2) Aerin Frankel 3) Emily Clark
- Shots ended 26-26 with Boston having the edge in the first (11-10) and third (7-5) — Shots were even in the second (7-7), but Ottawa had the advantage in overtime (4-1).
- Daryl Watts (OTT) led all players with five shots on goal — Teammate Savannah Harmon finished second with four.
- Four Boston players finished with three shots each (Knight, Megan Keller, Jess Healey, and Susanna Tapani), the most on the team.
- Boston was 0/3 on the powerplay — Ottawa was 1/2.
- Ottawa scored a powerplay goal for the third straight game – They improve their league-best powerplay to 14 goals and a conversion percentage of 28.6%.
- Boston is now a perfect six-for-six when scoring the first goal of the game.
- This was the first game of the PWHL season without any goals in the second and third periods.
- Boston has now won six of nine games decided by one goal — Ottawa has yet to win a one-goal game in nine such contests.
- Ottawa has yet to win in extra time — They are now zero-for-six in overtime/shootout games this season.
- This was Boston’s first shootout of the season – They were the only PWHL team without a shootout game prior to tonight.
- Megan Keller’s first period assist was her first point since February 21, also against Ottawa — She remains in second place in the PWHL in scoring among defenders with 11 points.
- Keller has recorded at least a point in each of Boston’s games against Ottawa this season — She now has five assists against Ottawa in four games played.
- Emily Clark is now second in team scoring with ten points — Kateřina Mrázová leads Ottawa with 13 points.
- Despite her shootout goal, Mrázová’s point streak comes to an end at six games (4G, 6A).
- Frankel records her fifth win of the season, tied with five other goalies for third-most in the PWHL — Only Minnesota’s Nicole Hensley (6) and Toronto’s Kristen Campbell (11) have more.
- Boston (4-4-2-7) has 22 points on the season, one ahead of Ottawa and five up on New York for fourth place — They are eight points behind Toronto and Montréal, and 11 behind first-place Minnesota.
- Ottawa (5-0-6-6-) sits one point behind Boston for fourth place, and four ahead of New York — All three teams have played 17 games.
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