SEATTLE, WA – The Boston Fleet kickstarted the PWHL Takeover Tour™ with a nail-biting 3-2 shootout victory against the Montréal Victoire on Sunday. The clash drew a season-high crowd of 12,608 at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena.
First Period Highlights: Montréal took a 2-0 lead with goals from Laura Stacey (power play) and Abby Boreen (even strength).
Boston’s Comeback: Rookie Hannah Bilka sparked the rally with a power play goal in the second period and assisted Susanna Tapani on the game-tying goal midway through the third period. In the shootout, Bilka and Tapani scored two of Boston’s three goals.
Goalkeeping Standouts: Aerin Frankel of Boston made 23 saves in regulation and overtime and thwarted three of Montréal’s four shootout attempts. Victoire’s Ann-Renée Desbiens had 28 saves in the loss.
Quotes:
- Courtney Kessel, Fleet Head Coach: “It’s really nice to come out with a win, a good hard-fought game, and we really earned those points today. Very warm welcome from Seattle and I think our players enjoyed it.”
- Hannah Bilka, Fleet Forward, on Aerin Frankel’s impact: “I think it just gives us so much confidence as a group. We know that she’s going to come up with a big save and really keep us in the game.”
- Kori Cheverie, Victoire Head Coach, on playing in Seattle: “It was definitely exciting from start to finish, having a game in these cities that don’t have a team right now.”
- Laura Stacey, Victoire Forward: “It’s a pretty big honor to come into rinks like this and have 12,000 fans cheering. It’s a privilege for every single one of us to step on that ice today in front of Seattle. We don’t take it for granted.”
Notables:
- Highest attendance figure of the 2024-25 PWHL season and fifth largest in regular season history.
- Boston’s first shootout of the season and third all-time.
- Boston neutralized a two-goal deficit for the second straight game.
- Hannah Bilka’s first multi-point performance in her PWHL career.
- Megan Keller extended her point streak to four games and leads the Fleet in scoring.
- Abby Boreen leads Victoire in scoring with five points in seven games.
- Kristin O’Neill leads the league in faceoff winning percentage at 70.6%.
- Boston’s Hilary Knight recorded six shots on goal, a season-high for the captain.
- Jessica Campbell, Seattle Kraken’s assistant coach, performed the ceremonial puck drop.
Scoresheet Recap:
- Montréal: 2 0 0 0 – 2
- Boston: 0 1 1 0 – 3
Three Stars:
- Hannah Bilka (BOS) 1G, 1A, SOW
- Abby Boreen (MTL) 1G
- Susanna Tapani (BOS) 1G
Standings:
- Montréal: 3-2-1-1, 14 PTS, Tied for 1st Place
- Boston: 2-1-1-4, 9 PTS, 5th Place
Upcoming Schedules:
- Boston: January 8 at Minnesota, 7:30 p.m. ET
- Montréal: January 8 at Toronto, 10:00 p.m. ET (PWHL Takeover Tour™ at Rogers Arena, Vancouver)
