Boston Holds off Minnesota 3-2 to Tighten First-Place Race
PWHL Boston Fleet

Boston Holds off Minnesota 3-2 to Tighten First-Place Race

Published on April 15, 2026 under Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL)
Boston Fleet News Release


LOWELL, MA - The Boston Fleet were led by three-point performances from Jessie Eldridge and Alina Müller in a 3-2 victory over the visiting Minnesota Frost Wednesday night at the Tsongas Center. Eldridge opened the scoring, burying a one-timer from one knee at 4:55 in the first period, then extended Boston's advantage 6:39 into the second period with her fourth power-play goal of the season, a new career-high, on a rebound shot that found the back of the net. Kendall Cooper sparked Minnesota's comeback attempt at 4:01 of the third period on a long-distance wrister that capitalized on a screen to pull the Frost within one. Just over two minutes later, Müller fired the net-front angle shot off a rebound to quickly re-extend the Fleet lead, 3-1, in the final frame. In the last two minutes of play, Britta Curl-Salemme tallied the Frost's final marker with an extra skater on the ice. Aerin Frankel stood tall to earn her 18th win of the season in a 20-save performance. Nicole Hensley stopped 33 of 36 shots on goal in defeat. With the win, Boston pulls within one point of first-place Montréal heading into a pivotal matchup between the teams on Friday night at Place Bell. Minnesota falls eight points back of Boston in the standings with their first loss in three games and are out of contention for first place. They head home to host Toronto in their final regular-season home game at Grand Casino Arena on Sunday.

QUOTES

Boston Head Coach Kris Sparre on the Fleet's bounce back win: "It was a good win for us. The start of the game wasn't the way we typically like to start a hockey game. I think it took us a little bit to find our legs. We ended up finding our rhythm in the second period and I thought it started with our physicality. We were able to complete a few more plays and carry that into the third. I like the way we finished the game."

Fleet forward Jessie Eldridge on the chemistry her and Alina Müller have developed together over the past few weeks: "[Alina] Liners is such a special player. She's a playmaker and she sees the ice so well. I think you saw tonight that I just need to be ready [because] she's going to find me wherever I am. I was grateful to get the first two, but honestly it was all her work, I just had to shoot the puck. It's been a lot of fun, and I hope we can keep it going."

Minnesota Head Coach Ken Klee on continuing to improve after having already secured a playoff spot: "Yeah, I mean, that's a hard thing. Someone asked me earlier about how it's been different every year for us, and they're right; every season is a little bit different. The first year, a bunch of us all tied and we're all trying to get in the last day, and then last year we knew we had to win out to get in. Then obviously this year, being in [the playoffs], they're all a little different and it doesn't really matter until it gets to the playoffs. We know that it's not a switch that you can just turn off, so we know that we have got to be ready, and whoever we play, it's going to be a tough test. It's not like we've cruised to our first two Walter Cups. We know it's very difficult to win, and this league's really good."

Frost rookie Kendall Cooper on her mindset for the final stretch of games: "Yeah, I think just like Coach [Ken Klee] said, it's just building our habits and details. I think just building momentum too, obviously we don't want to lose games. So, I think going into each game, focusing on our systems, the way that we play, and trying to build as much momentum as we can going into the playoffs."

NOTABLES

Tonight was Boston and Minnesota's fourth and final matchup of the season series, with the Fleet winning 9-3 in points and outscoring the Frost 13-10. Minnesota narrowly leads the all-time regular season series 23-22 in points.

The Fleet remain undefeated at the Tsongas Center with six straight wins in 2025-26 (6-1-0-0). Their 26 points in 11 games in Massachusetts is a new team record, still with two more home games on the schedule.

Boston won their ninth one-goal game of the season, most in the PWHL. Their 14 one-goal games this season is tied for most with Toronto.

The Fleet have scored the first goal more times than any other PWHL team this season, opening scoring in 21 of their 27 games played. They lead the league with 18 wins (14 in regulation and four in overtime) in games where they score first.

Minnesota set a new benchmark for goals in a season with 84, exceeding the 83 they scored during the 2024-25 season (excluding shootout results).

The Frost offense has been limited to two or fewer goals 11 times this season, including three games against the Fleet.

The Fleet have two goals on the player advantage in their last three games after going nine-straight games, or 30 opportunities, without a power-play marker. Boston improved their power play to 14.6%, ranked sixth in the league, and their second-ranked penalty kill unit which moved to 93.9%.

Jessie Eldridge recorded her third career three-point performance, and second multi-goal effort as a member of the Fleet, giving her five goals in her last five games. She has five points in five games against Minnesota in 2025-26 (3G, 2A), including her first multi-point game of the season on Jan. 11 as a member of the Torrent. The third-year forward, who led all skaters tonight with six shots on goal, is tied for the league lead with three multi-goal games and is just one point away from reaching 20 in consecutive seasons.

Alina Müller and Taylor Heise became the first and second players in PWHL history to record 17 assists in a single season and 40 career helpers.

Müller tallied a goal and a pair of assists for her first three-point game of the season to set a new career-high of 21 points. The Fleet alternate captain has assisted on all five of Eldridge's goals, and her 11 primary assists are second-most in the PWHL. She now has four three-point performances in her career, tied for the second-most in PWHL history, and her first assist tonight marked her seventh time recording a helper on a game-opening goal this season, good for the league lead.

Heise extended her point streak to five consecutive games (4G, 2A) and is two points shy of reaching 30 points, a milestone that has not been reached by any skater in a single season. The Frost forward now ranks second in all-time points with 63, three shy of tying Marie-Philip Poulin.

Haley Winn set a new Fleet record for points by a rookie with 17 (4G, 13A) in 27 games, surpassing Müller's 16 (5G, 11A) in 24 games during the inaugural season. With an assist tonight, the defender led all skaters in the season series with six points (1G, 5A), including two of her five power-play assists this season.

Kendall Cooper netted her first goal since Jan. 28, and her fourth multi-point performance leads all PWHL defenders. The Frost rearguard leads all rookies with 15 assists, and her 17 points are tied with Winn for second among rookies. She is now within two of Grace Zumwinkle's team rookie record of 19 points (11G, 8A) during the inaugural season.

Britta Curl-Salemme is riding a five-game point streak in road games (2G, 4A) and has goals in back-to-back games, reaching 11 for the season and 20 for her career. With 27 points in 27 games, she is one of four Frost players averaging a point per game or higher this season.

Aerin Frankel recorded her 18th win of the season, retaking the lead among league goaltenders with a new single-season benchmark. The win is her third in nine career games against Minnesota, all of which have been in regulation. Her performance brought her season total to 584 saves, just eight from a new career high. Her goals-against-average (1.19) and save percentage (.953) remain second-best in the league.

Abby Newhook recorded her fifth assist in the Fleet's last four games, bringing her season total to 13 points in 26 games. More than half of the Boston rookie's points have come in the second half of the season with eight in her last 13 games (2G, 6A). She moved into a tie with Abby Hustler (4G, 9A) for the fifth-most points among the league's new players.

Lee Stecklein has points in five consecutive games (1G, 6A) for the first time in her regular season career, previously stretching five consecutive games from the end of the 2024-25 campaign into the playoffs. She notched her 11th assist of the season, almost double her output from each of the last two seasons (6A). The Frost alternate captain is one point away from 30 for her career, a mark only seven other defenders have reached in league history.

Katy Knoll added her first assist and eighth point of the season to reach double digit career points. This was her first point on the road in almost four months, following two road goals in December. The Frost entered tonight's game with a perfect 5-0-0-0 record when Knoll finds the scoresheet.

Nicole Hensley had her fourth outing this season with at least 30 saves, and her first loss when doing so. Her 36 shots faced tonight matched her season-high from a Dec. 2 win against Ottawa. She has now allowed three or more goals in her last five starts, the longest such streak of her career.

Noemi Neubauerová made her Fleet debut on the blue line after signing a 10-day contract today and logged 5:29 in time on ice. The Czech Olympian played her first PWHL game since Mar. 19, 2025, as a member of Toronto.

Laura Kluge missed her second game of the season for the Fleet, listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Zumwinkle and Klára Hymlárová were left off the Frost lineup for the first time tonight, both listed day-to-day with upper-body injuries.

THREE STARS

1. Jessie Eldridge (BOS) 2G, 1A

2. Alina Müller (BOS) 1G, 2A

3. Kendall Cooper (MIN) 1G, 1A

STANDINGS

Boston: 57 PTS (15-5-2-5) - 2nd Place

Minnesota: 49 PTS (13-3-4-7) - 3rd Place

UPCOMING SCHEDULES

Boston: Friday, Apr. 17 at Montréal at 7 p.m. ET

Minnesota: Sunday, Apr. 19 vs. Toronto at 1:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. CT

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Professional Women's Hockey League Stories from April 15, 2026


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