LOWELL — If the Boston Fleet plays as it did during the third period in Saturday’s regular season finale against the New York Sirens, it will be a tough out in the Walter Cup Playoffs.
If Boston’s playoff performance resembles its showing in the first two periods, the Fleet could be in trouble.
Boston shook off a slow start at the Tsongas Center with the help of a 30-save effort between the pipes from Aerin Frankel to skate to a 4-0 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 6,120.
After being outskated for most of the game, the Fleet turned the tide when Jessie Eldridge scored her team-high 14th goal of the season less than three minutes into the third period before Ella Huber, Haley Winn and Jill Saulnier rounded out the scoring in an energetic third frame.
“In playoffs, you’re not going to have that luxury to sort of be asleep in the first period,” said Fleet captain Megan Keller, who pocketed two assists. “So back to work for us. I believe in this group. We’ve done it all season long, and I think we’re going to be able to be ready to go for puck drop on Thursday.”
Eldridge has been on a tear since Boston acquired her at the trade deadline from the Seattle Torrent, scoring seven goals in 11 games in a Fleet sweater. Her game-winner on Saturday marked Boston’s 10th straight win against the Sirens, the longest streak against a team in league history.
“I’m more focused on helping the team win, and if I can help do that, I’m really happy to,” Eldridge said. “I get my first taste of playoffs this week. So I’m focused on that, and I hope we can keep it going.”
The Fleet (16-5-4-5) will host Game 1 of a best-of-five semifinal series in the Walter Cup Playoffs on Thursday in Lowell at 7 p.m., with Game 2 on the docket for Saturday, May 2.
The Fleet captured 62 points just one season removed from missing the postseason. In 30 games last season, Boston netted only 44 points.
“It’s been an unbelievable experience,” said head coach Kris Sparre. “I just met with the group and talked to everybody that’s been involved in this journey so far. We came in as a group seven months ago. We got a whole brand new set of prospects that all made our team, a bunch of free agents, not a lot left over from last year and a whole new coaching staff for the most part. We had something to prove right from the start.”
Boston’s semifinals opponent and final place in the standings are up to the Montreal Victoire.
The Fleet will be looking for help from its rival to clinch first place ahead of the postseason. Boston would leap Montreal in the Professional Women’s Hockey League standings with a Montreal loss of any kind against Seattle late Saturday (10 p.m.).
First place guarantees home-ice advantage throughout the entirety of the postseason and unlocks the opportunity to choose a semifinal opponent. At the conclusion of Saturday’s four-game slate, the team atop the league standings will have a 24-hour window to make its selection, which will be announced on Sunday.
Until then, Boston will hope to flush most of Saturday’s game.
The Fleet struggled to generate offensive pressure for the majority of the matinee. New York, which was already eliminated from playoff contention, outshot Boston by a 16-1 margin after the first period before holding a 24-8 advantage after two frames.
While the Fleet found its footing, Frankel kept it afloat. Saturday marked her eighth shutout of the season.
“Credit to Aerin,” Keller said. “She’s the best goalie in the world for a reason. She kept us in that game and I thought our team did a great job of adjusting into the third and had one of our best periods. We’re going to look to carry that into playoffs.”
“They show up for me. So, I mean, if I have to bail us out a little bit in the first to get things going, then that’s what we’ll do,” Frankel said. “I think we had a really good end to the game, and it feels good to end the season that way.”
The Fleet was held off the board on a power play chance late in the period but eventually broke through with Eldridge’s tally in the third. Causing a turnover behind the net, Eldridge then drifted across the slot before deflecting a shot from Keller to break the ice.
It set the table for Huber to add an important insurance tally, as she converted a rebound to pot her fourth goal of the campaign. Three of her four tallies have come against New York.
The goals kept coming. Winn’s was a blast, a one-timer from the point on a feed from Keller. The Sirens then attempted to gain an extra edge with the goalie pulled on a power play, but Saulnier weaved her way down the ice before depositing the puck into the empty net to the delight of a raucous crowd that displayed a vastly different setting than last year’s dismal season finale that ended Boston’s season with a disappointing 8-1 loss to the Frost.
But after hiring a new coach, making some key picks in the draft and establishing a new identity, playoff hockey is back in Lowell.
“It’s a fresh slate for everybody,” Keller said. “What happened in the regular season doesn’t matter. Playoffs is taken to a whole other level. It’s very physical, not much room out there on the ice and everybody is finishing checks. Every team is coming to play. It’s a fun time of the year.”
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