The Vancouver Goldeneyes lost to the Boston Fleet 2-0 despite outshooting them 35- 29.
The Fleet hosted the Goldeneyes Tuesday night (March 24) at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Massachusetts, in front of 4,178 people.
Boston’s goalie Aerin Frankel “turned away a season-high 35 shots to increase her single-season shutout record to six and all-time record to eight,” noted a PWHL news release Tuesday (March 24).
Laura Kluge scored the first goal of the game for Boston in the second period, and Susanna Tapani scored an empty-net goal late in the third period for Boston.
Except for the March 18 win against the New York Sirens, the Goldeneyes have lost all their games since coming back from the Olympic break.
Vancouver Head Coach Brian Idalski on the past losses: “That’s five in a row that I felt we’re executing, we’re competing, we’re giving ourselves a chance and opportunities to win hockey games. We’re just falling short.”
“I really think some of it now is flipping the switch mentally, expecting good things to happen, expecting somebody to make a play. Once that gets rolling, it kind of feeds itself, and so we’re still struggling to break through in that area where confidence-wise we know we’re going to get it done. We’re not hoping, we’re not guessing, we’re not thinking maybe. We know that we’re going to make the plays necessary. Right now, that’s still the last little thing for me that we have to kind of break through – the mental component as the group – that we know that we’re going to do what we need to do to win a close game like that.”
Vancouver’s goalie Kristen Campbell saved 27 of 28 shots on net.
Goldeneyes captain Ashton Bell said, “[Kristen Campbell] has been solid for us the last five games. Tonight she was key in the special teams. When we had some light kills there, she kept us in it, she made some huge saves for us and gave us a chance to win that game. We’re very lucky to have her and she’s a character on and off the ice.”
Goalie Emerance Maschmeyer is still listed as day-to-day with upper-body injuries.
The PWHL entered its third season on Nov. 21 with its original six teams: Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Minnesota Frost, Boston Fleet, and New York Sirens, along with the two new teams, Vancouver Goldeneyes and Seattle Torrent.
The Goldeneyes currently sit at 7th in the league with 24 points.
Vancouver travels to Toronto to face the Sceptres on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.