OTTAWA, ON (February 20, 2025) – Despite giving up a two-goal lead late in the third period, the Boston Fleet emerged victorious in overtime on a goal by Susanna Tapani to secure a 3-2 win against the Ottawa Charge on Thursday night at TD Place. The win gives the Fleet a third straight victory – a new team record – and a third straight win against the Charge this season. Eight minutes into the first period, Boston opened the scoring with a goal from Theresa Schafzahl, then Alina Müller struck shorthanded eight minutes later to put the Fleet ahead by two heading into the first intermission. Midway through the final frame, Ottawa’s Tereza Vanišová and Boston’s Jill Saulnier had a heated altercation that sparked life back into the game. Then, with just four minutes left in regulation, Vanišová fed Ronja Savolainen who put the Charge on the board with a power play tally to further ignite the team. Down by one goal and with an extra attacker on the ice, Vanišová found the back of the net with less than three seconds remaining to force extra time. Despite momentum swinging in the Charge’s favour and a dominant overtime period by the home team, Boston continued to battle. Tapani took advantage of a turnover and showcased her breakaway speed, skating the length of the ice to bury the winner. Aerin Frankel earned her ninth win of the season between the pipes for Boston – tying her for the league lead – stopping 21 of 23 shots faced. At the other end of the ice, Emerance Maschmeyer turned aside 27 of 30 shots faced. Boston’s two points puts them one behind Minnesota and Toronto who are tied for second in the standings. Ottawa remains in fifth place, six points back of Boston.
QUOTES
Boston Head Coach Courtney Kessel: “Our first period, I thought was great. We got up two and then maybe we sat back a little. I thought Ottawa had a great second period and then in the third period, I thought both teams showed up. We had a few chances to put the game away, we had a power play at the end of the game so we have to bury those opportunities.”
Fleet forward Susanna Tapani on her overtime-winner: “I was just relieved that we got the extra point. That was in our heads the whole overtime. I was just happy for the team that we got the win. We played very well and I thought we deserved that one.”
Charge defender Ronja Savolainen on the altercation involving Tereza Vanišová in the third period that sparked the team’s late comeback: “It totally gave us a boost on the bench. Every player was standing up and cheering for her, so I thought that was a good one.”
Ottawa Head Coach Carla MacLeod on grabbing a point with a goal in the dying seconds of the game but losing in overtime for the second game in a row: “We had a tougher start. We could see it. We knew we had to find our way and dig to get out of it. We showed resiliency with a big penalty kill at the end of the third period. We knew there wasn’t much time to get something brewing. It was great to get two goals in the last minutes. It gave us a lot of momentum. If you look at the last game’s overtime and this one, we were really pushing to win the hockey game instead of just defending. We had a lot of offensive zone time. We are getting better in that phase even if we would like to tilt the overtime points to get the extra point.”
NOTABLES
Boston’s first-ever three-game winning streak has seen the team earn eight of a possible nine points.
Ottawa erased a two-goal deficit for the first time this season to earn a single point in the standings.
The Fleet are tied for the league lead with four wins beyond regulation, including two straight against Ottawa, while the Charge remain the only team without a win in overtime or a shootout this season.
Six of the eight all-time meetings between the teams have been decided by one goal, including four beyond regulation.
Susanna Tapani scored her second game-winning goal of the season and now has a total of eight goals this campaign, which ties her for fourth overall in the league. This was her second career overtime winner – the first was also scored at TD Place on Jan. 17, 2024, as a member of Minnesota. Tapani also led all players with a career-high 15 faceoff wins on 21 draws (71.4%).
Tereza Vanišová recorded her fourth multi-point performance of the campaign and has scored in three consecutive games for the first time in her career. She has six points in her last three games (5G, 1A) and sits third in PWHL goals with nine on the season. Tonight, she set a new career-high for points with 13 (9G, 4A) through 18 games after recording 12 points (2G, 10A) in 23 games last season.
Alina Müller scored her fifth goal – and second ‘jailbreak’ goal – of the season and is the only player in the league to net more than one shorthanded goal this season. The Fleet forward is riding a three-game goal streak for the first time in her career and has five points in her last three games (3G, 2A).
Ronja Savolainen scored her second goal of the season and is now second among Charge defenders in points with seven (2G, 5A).
Theresa Schafzahl scored her first goal of the season for her third point of the campaign, after scoring six points (3G, 3A) through 20 games in the inaugural season.
Emily Clark recorded an assist to extend her point streak to four games (1G, 4A) and has reached double-digits in points with 10 (4G, 6A) in 18 games.
Danielle Serdachny tallied her fourth assist of the season for Ottawa and now sits tied for seventh in rookie scoring with six points (2G, 4A).
Hannah Brandt recorded her seventh assist of the season and now sits tied for second among Fleet players in the category.
Jamie Lee Rattray recorded an assist against her hometown team for her second point in two games. The Kanata, ON, native has five points in five games (2G, 3A).
Sophie Shirley led all players in shots on goal with five – a career-high for the Fleet forward.
Ashton Bell and Kateřina Mrázová were both scratched from Ottawa’s lineup for the second straight game with day-to-day upper body injuries. Shiann Darkangelo was a late scratch due to illness.
Emily Brown was scratched from Boston’s lineup and is day-to-day with an upper body injury.
SCORESHEET RECAP
Boston 2 0 0 1 - 3
Ottawa 0 0 2 0 – 2
1st Period-1, Boston, Schafzahl 1 (Rattray, Brandt), 8:18. 2, Boston, Müller 5 (Greco), 16:12 (SH). Penalties-Pejsova Bos (holding), 11:47; Knight Bos (tripping), 16:03.
2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Clark Ott (tripping), 4:58; Roese Ott (holding), 17:08; Maloney Bos (hooking), 19:22.
3rd Period-3, Ottawa, Savolainen 2 (Vanišová, Serdachny), 16:27 (PP). 4, Ottawa, Vanišová 9 (Clark, Jenner), 19:57. Penalties-Saulnier Bos (roughing, roughing), 11:18; Vanišová Ott (roughing), 11:18; Vanišová Ott (roughing), 13:18; Digirolamo Bos (holding), 14:27; Hughes Ott (boarding), 16:37.
1st OT Period-5, Boston, Tapani 8 4:12. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Boston 8-7-11-4-30. Ottawa 6-5-9-3-23.
Power Play Opportunities-Boston 0 / 3; Ottawa 1 / 4.
Goalies-Boston, Frankel 9-4-1-0 (23 shots-21 saves). Ottawa, Maschmeyer 5-6-2-1 (30 shots-27 saves).
Attendance: 5,458
THREE STARS
1. Susanna Tapani (BOS) OTW
2. Tereza Vanišová (OTT) 1G, 1A
3. Alina Müller (BOS) SHG
STANDINGS
Boston (6-4-2-6) - 28 PTS – 4th Place
Ottawa (6-0-4-8) - 22 PTS – 5th Place
UPCOMING SCHEDULES
Ottawa: Saturday, February 22 vs. Montréal at 2 p.m. ET
Boston: Sunday, February 23 at New York at 4 p.m. ET (KeyBank Center, Buffalo)