Boston Blades lose to Toronto Furies

Despite having one of their highest shot totals of the season, the Boston Blades were unable to defeat the Toronto Furies, falling 4-1 to the team on Dec. 19.

The Blades last played Toronto way back in the first weekend of the season, coming away with their only win of the season. Since, Boston has grown has a team and looked to put a second win under their belt.

Unfortunately, the Furies had other ideas.

Toronto scored two during a five minute stretch of the first period. The Blades came out strong, but succumbed to Toronto’s pressure after the first goal.

Boston did what they could for the rest of the period, but felt the losses of Megan Myers and Dru Burns, who were both unavailable for the game.

"We had a small bench tonight," said Head Coach Brian McCloskey. In between periods, McCloskey told his team to focus on who was playing rather than who was missing.

"There's no cavalry. It's up to us."

The Blades responded by out-shooting the Furies in the second period, 13-7. Boston had several opportunities, testing Furies goaltender Christina Kessler a lot, but most of the bounces favored Toronto.

"There wasn't a puck bounce around the cage that went our way," said McCloskey.

Though Boston would give up two more goals in the game, one each in the second and the third, they would do their best to match the faster Furies team.

"They’re a team that has a ton of speed. I think we did a good job of killing that speed," said goaltender Genevieve Lacasse.

Lacasse faced 40 on the night, putting her close to 700 total shots faced on the year, by far the leader in that category among other CWHL net minders.

It looked like the Blades were going to finish the game scoreless when, with under a minute left, Nicole Giannino chipped the puck up to her linemate, Megan Shea. Despite being challenged by a Toronto defender, Shea beat Kessler to put her team on the board.

The evening was "Teddy Bear Toss" night, where fans brought stuffed animals and threw them onto the ice after a Blades goal, which were then donated to charity. After the scoring, Shea dove slid into the bears to celebrate.

Megan Shea celebrates amidst the stuffed animals donated by Blades fans.

The line of Shea, Giannino and Rachel Farrel had a lot of success in the game, pinning Toronto in their own zone on many occasions.

"We feed really well off each other," said Shea after the game. "I think that’s our game, just be scrappy and strong in the corners and then try to cycle the puck to the front of the net."

The Blades close out 2015 with one more game against the Furies this weekend.