Tapani taps in overtime winner, PWHL Boston wins Game 1 over Montreal

A stunning victory to open the second Walter Cup Semifinal series.

Game 1 between Montreal and Boston in Laval ended up going into overtime, a first for the PWHL playoffs. Despite the boisterous home fans, Susanna Tapani’s goal late in the extra frame silenced a near-capacity crowd, giving Boston a 2-1 victory and a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

Montreal heavily outshot Boston throughout the game. But early in overtime, Boston had a number of glorious opportunities, putting Montreal on its heels. Though Montreal came back with a couple of close calls, it was a fortunate bounce that led to the game-winner. Boston defender Megan Keller took a shot that was stopped by Montreal’s Ann-Renée Desbiens. However, Desbiens was unable to control the rebound and the puck snuck behind her, with Tapani there to tap it across the line.

It wasn’t Yapani’s first opportunity to win the game. With just minutes to go in the third period, Desbiens was careless with the puck, turning it over to Tapani, and it looked like the Finn had a wide-open net, but the Team Canada mainstay dove back to make an incredible stop.

It was a gutsy win for a Boston team that did not look like they were ready to play in the first period, as they were outshot 12-2 in the opening 20 minutes. Yet, they were bailed out by the heroics of goaltender Aerin Frankel.

The 24-year-old was sensational from the opening minutes of the game, and she had to be in order for Boston to have a chance. With her play arguably the only reason the game made it overtime, Frankel’s magnificent stop on Melodie Daoust early in the extra frame kept her team alive.

The U.S. national team goalkeeper stopped 53 of the 54 shots she faced, easily setting a new PWHL record for saves in a single game. Frankel admitted that she was a little fatigued after the win.

“I think Montréal did a good job of putting pucks on the net,” Frankel said. “Obviously, it tires you out as the game goes on, but you have to stay mentally focused.” 

Desbiens had far less work at the other end, as Montreal ended up leading the shot count, 54-26.

Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie liked her team’s play but knows they need to improve to split the first two games at home.

“We can’t dwell on it too much,” Cheverie said. “We know that it’s going to be a long series. If we can continue to put together a full game like that defensively — we had our opportunities to score [but] obviously need to put a couple of those in. It’s disappointing but, for us, I’m happy as a coach with that effort — aside from the outcome.”

Boston head coach Courtney Kessel said it was a tough atmosphere to play in.

“Coming into Montréal,” Kessel explained. “You know you’re going to have to weather the storm because the energy in this rink was tremendous. It was loud from warmups to the end of that game, and we knew that (it would be). Did it go on a little bit longer than we wanted it to? Yeah, for sure, but I think you have to do what you have to do in playoffs.” 

9,135 was the official attendance for Game 1, with the second game of the series in Laval expected to be a sellout.

Montreal took control of the game early, pushing the play on Boston. At one point, the home side was outshooting Boston 9-0. Though the game was scoreless after the first period, that changed over a minute into the second. A one-timer from Laura Stacey powered through Frankel’s glove, with Kristen O’Neill knocking the puck in to make it 1-0 Montreal just over a minute into the frame.

Boston found a way to tie things up early in the third period, as Lexie Adzija tipped in a Sophie Shirley wrist shot by Desbiens less than two minutes into the frame.

It was a very physical game. While there is no official hit stat in the PWHL, Boston and Montreal were taking liberties with each other during regulation. Even Frankel and Desbiens were bumped into a few times. While it was just Game 1, if these rivals go at it for the rest of the series, the winner will head into the Finals black and blue.

Another takeaway from Thursday night was Montreal’s continued struggles with the player advantage. While O’Neill’s goal came on the power play, Montreal went 1-for-5 on the PP, including missing out on a chance in overtime.

Boston failed to capitalize on two opportunities with the player advantage.

Game 2 will be at Place Bell on Saturday night. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET.

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