Today mark’s the beginning of Boston’s play in series agains Buffalo to earn the right to play for the Isobel Cup.

Just the facts

When: Today, 3:00 PM

Where: Herb Brooks Arena, Lake Placid, NY

How to follow: Twitch: NWHL channel

Outlook

Coming into this season the Pride were so heavily favored it was almost funny. After the way they marched through last year and continued to add even more dangerous weapons it was a forgone conclusion that they would sleep walk through Lake Placid en route to Isobel Cup #2. Well they did sleepwalk alright, all the way to a fourth place finish thanks to the help of COVID taking the Riveters out of the bubble. It is now last gasp effort time.

Story Lines

Playoffs!

We are going to count this as playoffs! So the Pride made it like we all knew they would, just not in any sense in the way we imagined. The formula is simple win two games against Buffalo, the only team they have beaten. Then win their semifinal game against the top seed, followed by the only other remaining team for an Isobel Cup. Simple, right?

Oh Captain, my Captain.

Dempsey dressed against Connecticut and warmed up. She never saw the ice though and stood at the end of the bench all game. Losing a top line center is always a recipe for disaster, but with the leadership Dempsey provides, in addition to her being the all time leading scorer in league history, being missing could spell even more problems for the Pride.

Full Rest

The Pride haven’t played since the Connecticut game (really the second period of that contest) on Wednesday. Buffalo played the night cap that day so they are also rested. It will be interesting to see if either team can put ups full 60 minute effort as a result.

Other Games

Minnesota Whitecaps v Toronto Six - 6:00 PM

Prediction

There is no (well some) room for error at this point. Boston has stumbled their way into a play-in series, now they need to play like the team we expected when they entered this bubble. They had a complete game against the Beauts last time and made a very good goalie look bad. We thought that that game was a turning point but it was not the case at the time. Today they know what’s at stake and they should prevail.

Pride 3 Beauts 1