PWHL Playoffs: PWHL Boston Takes On PWHL Montreal

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On Thursday night the PWHL Boston (12-9-2-1) face PWHL Montreal (13-6-2-3) in a best-of-five series to advance to the championship round to play for the Walter Cup Trophy. The two teams met last Saturday at Tsongas Center in a game that PWHL Boston had to win if they were to punch their ticket to the playoffs. The 4-3 victory by PWHL Boston in regulation allowed them to finish in 3rd place in the league standings. PWHL Montreal ended their season in second place. Since PWHL Toronto won the regular season title and earned the right to pick their opponent, which turned out to be PWHL Minnesota. Boston and Montreal get to play each other for the right to move on. Let’s take a look at the PWHL Boston vs PWHL Montreal series.

For the two teams, the path to the playoffs was different. PWHL Montreal, despite going 4-4-1-1 over their last 10 games, was never really in trouble of not making the playoffs. PWHL Boston needed a late push to get into the postseason. Their 6-3-0-1 record over their last ten games did the trick. They would need every one of those six wins to keep their season alive. PWHL Montreal will have home ice for this series. They were a very good home team with a record of 7-2-2-1. Special teams were also good at home. Their power play was at 21.43% (9/42) and their penalty killing was 83.78% (6/37). Overall, their power play was at 15.85% (13/82) and their penalty kill was 84% (12/75). At home, the PWHL Montreal power play was at 21.43% (8/42) and their penalty kill was 83.76% (6/37).

The story for PWHL Boston was different. Their road record was above .500 at 6-5-0-1. But their special teams were a sore spot all season long. On the road, their power play was at 13.64% (3/22). The penalty kill was at 78.38% (8/37). For the year, their power play ended the year at 7.55% (4/53). That’s because the PWHL Boston power play was really bad at 3.25% (1/31) at home. Their penalty kill at Tsongas Center was better at 82.14% (5/28). For PWHL Boston, winning this series five-on-five will be key.

Both teams possess strong goalies between the pipes. In the case of PWHL Boston, Aerin Frankel should get game one. She appeared in 18 games playing over one thousand minutes for the year. Her goals against was 2.00, and her record was 8-6-2 with a.929 save percentage. Frankel was strong down the stretch when PWHL Boston really needed it. She allowed 35 goals in 18 games. She has one shutout that took place on February 25 at PWHL Minnesota.

PWHL Montreal can go one of two ways in this series. There is Ann-Renee Desbiens, who started last Saturday’s game between the two teams. Her GAA is 2.25 and she has a record of 7-5-2. Her save percentage is .923. She allowed 37 goals on the year with one shutout and she played 975 minutes. The other option for PWHL Montreal is Elaine Chuli who ended her year with a 1.61 GAA, a record of 6-1-0, a save percentage of .949. and a total of 484 minutes. She allowed 13 goals in eight games. Her only loss took place on March 8 vs Toronto.

Scoring goals is how this series could be decided. PWHL Montreal has a sniper in Marie-Phillip Poulin who finished third in the scoring race with 23 points (10G, 13A) in 21 games played. She had one PPG and four PPA during the year, a +8 on the year. She has backup forward Laura Stacey who finished the year with 18 points (10G, 8A) in 23 games. Stacey has three PPG and 4 PPA. Her plus-minus was a +4 . Defensemen Erin Ambrose put up 18 points on 4G and 14A. She had one PPG and 6 PPA and her plus-minus was a +5.

For PWHL Boston, putting the puck in the net was at times a challenge. For the season, they scored a total of 49 goals (Montreal has scored 60). They were led by forward Alina Muller with 15 points (4G, 11A). She had two PPGs and had a +7 on the year. Defensemen Megan Keller also had 15 points 4G, and 11A. She had one PPG, with a +9 for the year. She likes to jump up into the play on offense which for the most part is where the points came from. She spent time in the penalty box with 12 minutes in penalties. For PWHL Boston, it is defense first and they played a ton of low-scoring games. In the playoffs, this may be a good thing.

Expect a tight low-scoring series between these two. Do not be surprised if it goes the distance.