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Aerin Frankel posts PWHL single-season record sixth shutout as Fleet blank Goldeneyes
The “Fran-kel, Fran-kel” chants at Tsongas Center eventually gave way to a familiar “M-V-P” refrain by the middle of the third period.
LOWELL — Laura Kluge’s first PWHL goal couldn’t have come at a better time for the Fleet — or for Kluge.
After a stellar performance at the Milan Olympics, where she recorded 7 points (3 goals, 4 assists) in five games with Germany, Kluge struggled upon returning to the PWHL. She felt like she had lost her game, and it wasn’t until recently that she began to feel like herself again.
So when she scored midway through the second period Tuesday against Vancouver, a wave of relief washed over her.
“If anybody deserved to find their first one, it’s definitely her,” assistant coach Jordan LaVallée-Smotherman said. “She’s just been building to that every game since she got back and getting stronger and stronger.”
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Susanna Tapani added an empty-net goal in the waning seconds, and the Fleet (11-5-2-4, 45 points) held on for a 2-0 win over the Goldeneyes to move into sole possession of first place in the standings with eight games remaining in the regular season.
Goaltender Aerin Frankel, who adds to her MVP candidacy with every passing game, made a season-high 35 saves to secure her second consecutive shutout and sixth overall, a PWHL single-season record.
The “Fran-kel, Fran-kel” chants at Tsongas Center eventually gave way to a familiar “M-V-P” refrain by the middle of the third period.
The goaltender has started all but two games for the Fleet this season, but she embraces the workload as just part of the job.
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“That’s what we wanted: We wanted this pro league, we wanted it to be a full-time job,” Frankel said. “So with that comes the responsibility of taking care of yourself, preparing, and making sure that you’re ready every night so that you know when your number’s called you’re ready to go and you can put your best foot forward for your team.”
Kluge — who signed with the Fleet as a free agent during the offseason after recording two assists in her first PWHL season with Toronto — broke the deadlock at 9:03 of the second period, when Megan Keller fired a wrister from the blue line, and Kluge tipped it past Vancouver goaltender Kristen Campbell.
Mia Biotti, who grew up in Cambridge and played at Harvard, was credited with the secondary assist, marking the rookie’s first point after starting the season as a reserve player.
Boston was 0 for 3 with five shots on the power play. In eight games since the Olympic break, the Fleet have scored just once on the advantage.
For a different look, the Fleet swapped Abby Newhook out of their top unit in favor of Jessie Eldridge, who they acquired in a March 16 trade with Seattle.
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LaVallée-Smotherman, who runs the power play, said he liked his team’s chances on Tuesday. But at this point, “it’s about getting one to go.”
“When it goes on from game to game to game, it can wear on the group mentally,” he said. “We try and make little adjustments here and there, but it’s really about finding maybe that greasy one, that rebound that was laying around.”
The Fleet spent large portions of the third period in the defensive zone under pressure from a speedy Vancouver side, and the Goldeneyes fired 16 shots on goal in the second period and 13 in the third.
It was the kind of hard-fought, grind-it-out effort that Boston will need in its push to the playoffs.
“Going through adversity is good for a team, especially down the stretch here,” Frankel said. “We don’t want easy games. They’re not going to prepare us for our ultimate goal, which is to win the Walter Cup.”
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