NWHL Weekend Recap: Offenses Explode

Week two of the inaugural season of the NWHL has come and gone, and two teams are still looking for their first victories of the season.

On Sunday afternoon, the Buffalo Beauts took on the Connecticut Whale in the second game of their five-game home stand to open the season. The Whale opened the scoring 4:10 into the opening period on a goal by Alyssa Wohlfeiler, but the Beauts would respond on Meghan Duggan’s first goal of the season with 3:48 remaining in the first.

Kate Buesser from the @CTWhale_NWHL makes it 3-1. pic.twitter.com/ZstBE07afd

— NWHL Gifs (@nwhlgifs) October 18, 2015

After making it 2-1 halfway through the second, Connecticut’s Kate Buesser put the game out of reach with a tally just two minutes after regaining the lead. Buffalo would cut the deficit to one at 3-2 with just under three minutes remaining in the second thanks to Kelley Steadman’s second goal of the season. The Whale would add two goals in the third to put the icing on the victory cake, improving their record to 2-0 while dropping Buffalo to 0-2.

Across the state, the New York Riveters and Boston Pride faced off in their first matchup of the season. It was a contest that wasn’t close from the opening draw.

Goals from Zoe Hickel and Brianna Decker put the Pride up 2-0 after the first, and they never looked back. Both players would each add another goal in the second with New York adding a goal of their own to get on the board.

Brianna Decker with her second goal of the night! @TheBostonPride lead 3-0 in the second period. pic.twitter.com/If3zAPYShT

— NWHL Gifs (@nwhlgifs) October 19, 2015

Three more goals in the third would cap off an offensive explosion for Boston as they topped New York 7-1 to advance to 2-0 on the year. New York, like Buffalo, falls to 0-2.

Boston travels back to Buffalo next week for their second meeting of the season against the Beauts while Connecticut and New York renew acquaintances in New York.