Pride Comeback Against New York, Rout Buffalo to Remain Undefeated
Boston Pride extend win streak and remain unbeaten since Jan 2016 (Troy Parla/NWHL)
BOSTON, MA - The Boston Pride played host to both New York teams this weekend, first hosting the New York Riveters on Saturday night, then the Buffalo Beauts Sunday night. The Pride entered the weekend 14-0 and a 25 game undefeated run since last losing to Buffalo in January of 2016.
Boston was forced to comeback for the second time in as many games when they fell in an early 2-0 deficit. Amanda Kessel started the scoring just three minutes in when she sniped one past Brittany Ott to give New York a 1-0 lead. After some back and forth play, late in the period, Tatiana Rafter doubled the lead for the Riveters. New York took the 2-0 lead into the first intermission along with a 9-3 shot lead in the frame.
The Riveters came into Boston ready to play and were determined to leave Warrior Ice Arena with a win over the Pride. Boston came out flat in the first period and New York took advantage of that.
In the second period the Pride looked like the same old Boston team. Hilary Knight tried to get the Boston rally going with a goal six minutes into the second. However, Kessel and the Riveters weren't going to be denied. Kessel gave New York another two goal lead midway through the stanza.
The third period started quickly, Meghan Duggan found the back of the net just a minute into the frame to get Boston back on the scoreboard. Just three minutes later, Knight took a Gigi Marvin pass in on Katie Fitzgerald and evened the score a three. Boston dominated the third and when New York took two penalties, giving Boston a 5-3, you could sense the shift in momentum. Brianna Decker notched the game winning power play goal at the end of the advantage.
Ott did the rest in the last 12 minutes for the Pride, making some big saves late in the contest and preventing New York from finding the equalizer.
On Denna Laing Day, the Boston Pride took on the Buffalo Beauts in a potential Isobel Cup semifinal and rematch of last years final. The Pride locked in the #1 seed will play either Connecticut or Buffalo in the upcoming playoffs.
Boston picked up right where they left off the night prior against New York, scoring and scoring a lot. The Pride picked up two goals midway through the first to open up a 2-0 lead over the Beauts. Lauren Slebodnick got the start in net for the Pride and has risen to the occasion all season, and on Sunday she stood tall in-between the pipes.
Decker and Alex Carpenter scored early in the second period to quickly put the Beauts in a 4-0 deficit. Boston looked like a completely different team than they did on Saturday night, pushing the tempo and firing shots from all angles on the ice. Kourtney Kunichika tried to get Buffalo back in the game with a goal midway through the second period. Boston still with plenty of momentum brought the lead back to four when Decker scored her second of the night to give the Pride a 5-1 lead.
Kacey Bellamy and Jillian Dempsey added third period goals to increase the Boston lead to 7-1. The Pride outshot the Beauts 39-25 in the contest and improved to 27-0 since their last loss. This is the longest known streak in NWHL, CWHL and NHL history.
