NWHL playoff recap: Pride, Whale earn shutouts in Game 1 (Video)
| 1 | 2 | 3 | TOTAL | |
| New York Riveters | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Boston Pride | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| SHOTS | ||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | TOTAL | |
| New York Riveters | 4 | 7 | 6 | 17 |
| Boston Pride | 24 | 14 | 18 | 56 |
The score alone doesn’t justify how well starter Jenny Scrivens played for the New York Riveters. She just didn’t get any help from her teammates in front of her to get a better result.
The Boston Pride hold the NWHL’s second best power play at the close of regular season play. The Riveters did nothing to prevent the lethal attack of the Pride by having to kill off seven power plays throughout the game.
At 7:40 of the first period, Kiira Dosdall went to the box on a body checking minor. The Riveters were 23 seconds away from killing off the penalty when Brianna Decker struck on a beautiful passing play with Jillian Dempsey.
The next Riveter to the box was Brooke Ammerman for slashing. It took the Pride only 24 seconds to capitalize on this power play. Marissa Gedman and Jillian Dempsey (again) set up Zoe Hickel to give the Pride the 2-0 lead.
Thankfully the period ended with the Riveters down by only 2 goals on 24 shots against. The broadcast mentioned Riveters coach Chad Wiseman was given a warning by the officials after vociferously protesting the way the game was called. At times Wiseman could be heard yelling on the background on the stream.
The second period appeared to start in the right direction for New York. Bray Ketchum hit the crossbar just over a minute into play.
Then Boston kicked the offense into gear as they had done in the first, but this time scoring all their goals at even strength.
Putting the Pride up 3-0 was Amanda Pelkey on a feed from, who else, but Jillian Dempsey.
Only 92 seconds later, Brianna Decker picked up her second goal of the game on a nifty backhand drop pass from Gigi Marvin.
Not too long afterward, Hilary Knight teamed up with Decker and Marvin for her first goal of the playoffs. The period ended with Boston up 5-0.
Goaltender Jenny Scrivens continued to be a one woman wrecking ball as she made the save of the game in the third period. Kelly Cooke was alone in front when she whipped the puck on net. Scriven snatches the puck out of the air with her glove.
(No word if Marc Bergevin, who currently employs her husband, Ben Scrivens, reached out to talk about a PTO.)
Scrivens held off the onslaught of Boston through a majority of the third. In the final three minutes, Riveters forward Beth Hanrahan was sent off for slashing.
Jillian Dempsey capped off her four point night with a goal of her own on the power play; cementing the 6-0 win for the Pride.
Brittany Ott earned her second shutout of the season and the first in NWHL playoff history.
Boston has a 1-0 lead over New York in the best of three series. The teams will face off again on Saturday at 8:00pm ET. Watch for FREE on Cross-Ice Pass.
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| 1 | 2 | 3 | TOTAL | |
| Buffalo Beauts | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Connecticut Whale | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| SHOTS | ||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | TOTAL | |
| Buffalo Beauts | 12 | 9 | 14 | 35 |
| Connecticut Whale | 8 | 11 | 2 | 21 |
The Buffalo Beauts were already facing an uphill battle when it was announced leading scorers Kelley Steadman and Meghan Duggan would not be in the lineup due to their prior commitments. Steadman is the Director of Hockey Operations for Robert Morris University and Duggan is an assistant coach at Clarkson University. The team is hopeful both will be back for Saturday’s game.
Both teams were held off the score sheet until just shy of halfway through the hockey game. Shiann Darkangelo (BEST NAME) and Danielle Ward got the puck to the always dangerous Kelli Stack who sent it past Beauts netminder Brianne Mclaughlin.
Connecticut came into the game with the best power play in the league, and Buffalo the worst penalty kill. The Beauts tempted fate five times during the game, and Sam Faber made them pay, putting the Whale up 2-0 in the second.
Hand it to the Beauts, they held their ground in the third period as they attempted to get back in the game. They had the perfect opportunity to cut the lead in half with 1:54 to go when Connecticut’s Danielle Ward was assessed a cross-checking penalty.
Buffalo pulled their goalie for a 6-on-4 advantage but to no avail. Beauts captain Emily Pfalzer attempted to block Kelly Babstock from scoring shorthanded in the empty net. Whale win 3-0.
Like Scrivens the first game, just how well Mclaughlin played isn’t seen in the box score. Unfortunately for her, Jaimie Leonoff played a little bit better and had her full compliment of scorers on the ice. Leonoff earned the first shutout in the history of the Whale, and because the game ended after the Pride’s game, she has the second playoff shutout in NWHL history.
The Whale will try to close out the series on Saturday at 7:30pm ET. Watch for free on ESPN3 (or possibly Cross-Ice pass).
Major stick-tap to @NWHLGifs
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Jen Neale is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter! Follow @MsJenNeale_PD.
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