Sceptres Out Shoot Fleet but Fall to Frankel in Home Opener

After earning the first win of the season against the Minnesota Frost, the Toronto Sceptres took the ice at Coca-Cola Coliseum for the first time. The matchup took place against the Boston Fleet, who remain the only undefeated team in the league. 

Just 15 seconds in, Laura Kluge took a two-minute delay of game penalty. Toronto looked solid on the power play, but Boston looked stronger on their first penalty kill of the season. 

At 4:45, a high-sticking penalty assessed to Claire Dalton sent the Sceptres on their first kill of the game. Boston looked solid, but a mishap at the end allowed the Sceptres aggressive penalty kill to spring up the ice. Blayre Turnbull jumped into action and scored a jailbreak goal in the last few seconds of the penalty. 

Up one goal, Toronto kept the momentum up. The home team looked powerful and graceful at the same time, tallying nine shots to Boston’s two in the first period. 

Two more penalties were assessed in the first, one to Jill Saulnier for boarding and one to Emma Gentry for goaltender interference. Neither team was able to convert.

Toronto kept the pressure up in the second until the last few minutes. 

An extremely gutsy effort by Abby Newhook took the Fleet up ice. Newhook sent Sara Hjalmarsson into the boards while forcing her way into the Sceptres’ zone. She sent the puck to Saulnier, whose rebound found Newhook’s skate, giving Boston their first goal of the game and her first career goal.

At the tail end of the second, Natalie Spooner sat for two minutes for hooking. The period ended with the Sceptres having double the amount of shots as the Fleet.

Despite only tallying four more shots on goal, the Fleet scored twice in the third to win the game 3-1. Susanna Tapani recorded her second of the season and Alina Muller recorded her first. 

Fleet goaltender Aerin Frankel stood her ground, stopping 24 of 25 shots and earning her first win in Toronto of her PWHL career. 

The Sceptres had a strong showing for their home crowd but unfortunately got goalied. Toronto would look for their first home win of the season on December 4 against the Ottawa Charge.