Knight leads Fleet past Charge with breakaway goal, 2 assists

Fleet captain Hilary Knight had a goal and two assists to help Boston to a 5-2 win over the Ottawa Charge in Professional Women's Hockey League action on Saturday.

Boston goalie Aerin Frankel makes 26 saves for her 12th win of the season

Darren Desaulniers · The Canadian Press · Posted: Mar 11, 2025 10:47 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

A group of women's hockey players wrap their arms around each other in celebration during a game. — Boston Fleet captain Hilary Knight, centre, celebrates with her teammates after a 5-2 win over the Charge on Saturday inside The Arena at TD Place in Ottawa. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

Fleet captain Hilary Knight had a goal and two assists to help Boston to a 5-2 win over the Ottawa Charge in Professional Women's Hockey League action on Saturday.

After assisting on the opening goal by Alina Müller in the first period, Knight scored on a breakaway at 12:10 of the third period inside The Arena at TD Place in Ottawa.

Jill Saulnier iced the victory for the Fleet with an empty-net goal assisted by Knight. Lexie Adzija added a second empty-netter.

Theresa Schafzahl also scored for the Fleet (8-6-5-4) while goaltender Aerin Frankel made 26 saves for her 12th win of the season.

WATCH l Knight scores on breakaway to extend lead:

Fleet defeat Charge to move into 2nd place in PWHL standings

8 hours ago

1:08

Ottawa falls to Boston 5-2 and is five points behind Minnesota who currently hold the final playoff spot.

Tereza Vanisova and Natalie Snodgrass scored for the Charge (8-10-1-4), who got a 24-save performance from Gwyneth Philips.

Philips was making the start in goal for the injured Emerance Maschmeyer. The Fleet were 1-for-3 on the power play while the Charge went 0-for-2.

The Charge are currently five points behind fourth-place Minnesota in the six-team PWHL standings. The top four clubs will make the post-season cut.

Takeaways

Charge: Played a solid defensive game as they began an undetermined amount of time without their top netminder. Maschmeyer was placed on long-term injured reserve this week.

Fleet: Despite a slow start, the Fleet got their legs underneath them towards the end of the opening period and were able to will their way to a win. The victory allowed them to move ahead of idle Toronto into second place in the standings.

Key moment

Vanisova split the Boston defence and scored with less than a second left in the second period to tie the game.

Key stat

The Ottawa Charge are a perfect 10-0 all time when their captain Brianne Jenner scores, including three times this season. Jenner was held off the scoresheet.