**BOSTON — Shay Maloney Ignites Offensive Surge as Boston Fleet Defeat Minnesota Frost, 4-1**
Shay Maloney sparked an offensive onslaught, scoring the first of a season-high four goals produced by the host Boston Fleet, who throttled the Minnesota Frost 4-1 on Sunday afternoon in front of a crowd of 5,338 at Agganis Arena.
Maloney and team captain Megan Keller scored goals just 1 minute and 14 seconds apart late in the first period, giving first-place Boston (4-0, 12 points) an early 2-0 advantage.
Klára Hymlárová’s goal cut the deficit in half for Minnesota (2-2, six points) early in the second period, thanks to assists from Claire Butorac and Peyton Anderson. It was Hymlárová’s first goal of the season.
But that was as close as the Frost would get. Fleet rookie Abby Newhook posted her third goal of the season on the power play just 49 seconds after Hymlárová’s score, extending Boston’s lead to 3-1. Theresa Schafzahl capped the scoring with a second Boston power-play goal early in the third period.
“I felt like their pressure all over the ice, the first pressure F1 and the secondary pressure was really good,” Frost defender Lee Stecklein said about the Fleet. “Obviously, they did that last year, too; it just felt really consistent today.”
Boston’s Aerin Frankel stopped a season-high 26 shots for her league-leading fourth victory, while Minnesota’s Maddie Rooney recorded a season-high 31 saves.
“I thought that was probably the highest pace game that we’ve played so far. We knew going into this game that it was going to take everybody. That’s a very organized group over there in Minnesota, and you can see why they’ve had a lot of success in this league so far,” Boston head coach Kris Sparre said.
“Credit to our group. I thought we hung in there and felt like we played a pretty tidy game. Our group is pretty reset from last year. We’re focusing on what we have now, and we feel like we’re a completely new team.”
The Frost, who were playing in their third straight road contest early in the season, had their season-opening road winning streak snapped at two games.
“We started off hot, and I think we just want to be better on our power play and scoring on those chances. And on the back side of that, the PK (penalty kill) gets cleaned up as well because obviously we have them in the next game,” Frost assistant coach Brianna Decker said.
The next game for the Frost will be at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on December 19, following a near two-week international break as the PWHL pauses.
https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/pro/fleets-offensive-surge-halts-frosts-road-winning-streak
