Aerin Frankel achieved her third consecutive shutout and seventh of the season, making 18 saves to lead the Boston Fleet to a 4-0 victory over the Toronto Sceptres in Toronto on Friday night. Liz Schepers, Jessie Eldridge, and Sophie Shirley all contributed goals for Boston, widening their lead at the top of the standings to five points over Montreal.
Toronto’s goaltender, Elaine Chuli, made 19 saves in a losing effort, ending the Sceptres’ six-game point streak. Despite this loss, Toronto had previously secured wins against Vancouver and Seattle, the PWHL’s bottom-ranked teams, during their streak.
The Sceptres, who last played on March 17 with a 2-0 win against Boston, had shown strong defensive performances with back-to-back shutout wins, including a 2-0 victory over Seattle on March 15.
Schepers opened the scoring in the first period, followed by her second goal in the second period. Eldridge added another goal in the middle frame, while Shirley sealed the victory with a goal in the third period. With this win, the Fleet now hold the best goal differential in the PWHL at plus-23 and have scored first in 18 games this season, leading the league in this statistic.
In other news, Toronto Sceptres’ forward Clara Van Wieren was given a one-game suspension by the Professional Women’s Hockey League for a boarding incident against Boston Fleet. Rylind MacKinnon, a Boston defender, was fined $500 for actions following the hit, where she cross-checked Van Wieren and pulled her to the ice. MacKinnon did not receive a penalty during the game.