LOWELL – The Fleet jumped out to a 2-0 lead by the end of the first quarter in Wednesday’s game against the Toronto Sceptres.
In Boston’s first game since Dec. 8, 2024 at home, the Fleet scored quickly to get off to a hot start and “weathered the storm” that Toronto brought in the second to hold onto the lead before adding two more in the third in the 4-1 win.
Alina Müller opened the scoring for the Fleet four and a half minutes into the game for her first goal of the season. Müller, in the crease, found the pass from Hannah Brandt and sent the puck in between Kristen Campbell’s pads for the goal.
“Took a little longer than I hoped it would, obviously,” Müller said. “I got a lot of support for my teammates and coaches, just staying patient and, in the end, just want to be able to help the team win games.”
Late in the first, after a sequence of offensive-zone time, Emily Brown received the pick from Müller just behind Campbell’s right pad, and Brown put the wobbling puck into the open net to double the Fleet’s lead.
Toronto put eight shots on goal in the first period to Boston’s nine, but the Sceptres were limited in their prolonged attack and instead made one-off plays.
Recent acquisition Jill Saulnier, who was traded from New York this week, had 6:25 in ice time on Wednesday, and played on the second line alongside Müller and Shay Maloney in the latter part of the first period.
Her most notable play, though, came midway through the second period when Saulnier quickly came to the defense of Hannah Brandt in the crease after Campbell covered the puck. She received a roughing penalty, but Boston Coach Courtney Birchard-Kessel was happy with her impact on the ice.
“I think that she brings that physicality booster. She plays with a little bit of an edge,” Kessel said. “That’s something we appreciate in Boston, to stand up for each other, so I love to see that.”
The Fleet suffered from an energy shift in the second period, as the Sceptres came out with more sustained offense. Toronto dominated the shots in the second, 13-4, and
Boston did not have a shot during five-on-five play in the period, and the Fleet had to kill off a pair of penalties in the middle frame, and the teams played four-on-four hockey for the matching Saulnier and Renata Fast roughing penalties.
“They did come out strong, and we kind of weathered the storm a little bit,” Kessel said. “The game could have gone the other way real quickly there in the second.”
In the third, Aerin Frankel made an immediate stick save to maintain the 2-0 lead, and less than 40 seconds later, the Fleet scored their third.
Maloney’s shot from the point trickled past Campbell for her second of the season 58 seconds into the third.
Toronto finally got on the board with just over five minutes of the game, when a backhander from Blayre Turnbull gave the Sceptres their lone goal. Frankel finished with 35 saves on 36 shots, the second time this season she’s made over 30 saves in a game.
Megan Keller scored the empty netter to seal the deal for Boston.
The Fleet will return to the ice on Sunday, when they travel to Minnesota. Boston will next be home on Jan. 31.
