LOWELL, Mass. — PWHL Boston has a commanding 2-0 lead over PWHL Montreal in the best-of-five playoff series.
Boston can close out the series on Tuesday night at Tsongas Center and advance to the Walter Cup championship round.
Coming off a thrilling triple overtime 2-1 victory on Saturday night, Boston is getting two key players — Jamie Lee Rattray and Loren Gabel, back in its lineup for Game 3.
Rattray played in 24 games for Boston before exiting the regular season finale against Montreal after 4:48 minutes of ice time. The alternate captain had three goals and eight assists in the regular season. Rattray is one of the league’s top faceoff leaders, winning 66.0%.
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Gabel returns to the lineup after missing the last seven regular season games and the first two of Boston’s postseason. The 26-year-old forward has been out of the lineup since March 16 when she was hit hard into the endboards by Ottawa defender Aneta Tejralova. She registered two shots in 3:26 minutes of ice time before exiting Boston’s 2-1 shootout victory. Gabel had four goals and three assists in 17 games for Boston.
Aerin Frankel is expected to get the start in net for Boston. The Northeastern product set a PWHL single-game saves record in Game 1 with 53, only to establish a new record of 56 in Game 2. She has a 0.65 goals-against average and a .982 save percentage in the playoffs after posting a 2.00 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage in the regular season.
Puck drop from the Tsongas Center is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game on NESN 360.
Featured image via PWHL Boston forward Loren Gabel skates during a PWHL hockey game vs. New York on Saturday, Jan. 20 at Tsongas Center in Lowell, Mass.
