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Susanna Tapani scored the game-winning goal with 9:40 remaining as the Boston Fleet spoiled the Toronto Sceptres' home-opener with a 3-1 win in Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) action Saturday.
Abby Newhook, with a goal and an assist, and Alina Mueller, with an empty-netter, also scored for Boston (2-0-0-0). Aerin Frankel stopped 24 shots.
Blayre Turnbull scored for Toronto (1-0-0-1). Raygan Kirk made 10 saves.
"We just we gotta be better offensively and we're not gonna solve this in five or six games," Ryan said. "It's probably gonna take a while, but a team that generally has a lot of physicality or aggression or plays an energy game, sometimes the composure to stay off to the weak side and watch things unfold and join offensively can benefit you."
"I don't think we did a great job on the weak side of the ice."
WATCH | Boston spoils Toronto's home opener:Susanna Tapani silenced the Toronto crowd with a third-period strike that was the eventual game winner.Turnbull opened the scoring when she took the puck off the side boards and roofed it for a short-handed goal at 6:26 of the opening period.
Newhook outhustled a Toronto defender for the puck, resulting in a 2-on-1 rush with Jill Saulnier. Saulnier's shot off a Newhook pass was stopped by Kirk, but the rebound went off Newhook's skate and in at 14:12 of the second period to tie the score.
Midway through the third period, Jamie Lee Rattray won a puck battle at the end boards and shoved the puck into the slot from behind the goal with one hand on her stick. The puck found Tapani who fired it past Kirk to silence the home crowd.
With 49.2 seconds left, Natalie Spooner was stopped on a wraparound shot and Turnbull had a chance in front while Frankel's head was turned but failed to score.
Moments later, Muller sealed the win with her first goal of the season.
The Sceptres dominated possession but continuously had passes intercepted when trying to create high-danger chances, or Frankel shut the door.
"You allow them to linger around, that sometimes it comes back to bite you, and I thought that was the case," Ryan said.
Fleet goaltender Aerin Frankel, right, covers the puck after making one of her 24 saves during Boston's 3-1 win over the Sceptres on Saturday. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)"They played us hard on the walls and they made it difficult to get to the middle," Turnbull added. "We'll be working on figuring out ways to get more scoring chances."
The Sceptres were missing star forward Daryl Watts, who has proven to be a gamebreaker that brings both speed and composure to the team's offence, due to injury.
Toronto started the PWHL season with a 2-1 win over the Walter Cup champion Frost in Minnesota.
The Sceptres' power play that led the PWHL last season fell to 0-for-6 this season.
Sceptres' Savannah Harmon reacts after the Fleet score an empty-netter to seal their 3-1 win. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)But it was the attitude change with some players when the momentum shifted that Ryan addressed with his team.
"We talked about it in between periods as well, where as much as you're trying to get your power play better and your penalty kill better and your 5-on-5 play and individual stuff better, it's that stuff you gotta work on as well," he said.
"You gotta work on what type of team you want to be when something bad happens. And I felt a little lull."
While Boston held the fort defensively, offence was hard to come by. The Fleet mustered only two shots on goal in the opening period despite two power-play chances. They finished with 12 shots overall, a far cry from the 28 shots on net in their 2-0 season-opening win over Montreal on Sunday.
"I thought we played well. If you look at that game compared to our first game against Minnesota, we made a lot of improvements," Turnbull said.
"So I think despite the outcome we're pretty happy with how we played that game.
The Sceptres welcome their provincial rivals, the Ottawa Charge, next on Thursday, while the Fleet return to Boston to host the expansion Vancouver Goldeneyes on Wednesday.
WATCH | Fillier goal holds up as winner against Vancouver:In Vancouver's first visit to the U.S., New York Sirens defeat Goldeneyes 5-1 Saturday in PWHL action.Earlier Saturday, the Goldeneyes lost their home-opener 5-1 to the New York Sirens.
Five different players scored for the visitors, including top overall draft pick Kristyna Kaltounkova. On the other end of the ice, Kayle Osborne made 20 saves in the win.
New York (2-0-0-1) jumped on top early with a goal by rookie Nicole Vallario barely four minutes in. The Sirens added a goal late in the first period on a tic-tac-toe play with Sarah Fillier tapping at the back post.
Paetyn Levis made it 3-0 less than a minute into the second period with another goal from the edge of the crease. Midway through, Kristin O'Neill scored on a short-handed breakaway.
WATCH | What to expect from the PWHL's expansion teams:Host Karissa Donkin and The Athletic's Hailey Salvian break down the rosters of the Professional Women's Hockey League's two newest teams.Sophie Jaques got the Goldeneyes (0-1-0-2) — who lost 5-1 at Ottawa in their last outing — on the board early in the third period. But less than four minutes later, Kaltounkova answered from close range.
All six goals were season firsts. Anne Cherowski, New York's second round draft pick, had a pair of assists.
Vancouver travels to Boston for its next game, while New York heads to Seattle to play the expansion Torrent on Wednesday.