BEAUTS POWER PLAY SHINES IN LOSS TO SIX

Despite a strong start in the Beauts second game of the weekend, the Toronto Six outscored Buffalo 4-1 in the final period en route to a 6-4 win to earn the sweep on the road.

Buffalo’s Kassidy Sauvé didn’t dress after sustaining an injury during Friday night’s game, so it was Lovisa Berndtsson in net for the home team. Berndtsson made 21 saves in the loss, while Toronto’s Elaine Chuli finished with 29 saves for the win.

The Six got on the board first on a goal from Emma Woods, who capitalized on a bouncing puck that jumped off the boards and back in front of the net to make it 1-0 midway through the first.

Though Buffalo couldn’t get past Chuli in the first period, its power play got to work in the second. After struggling with the extra attacker all season, the Beauts power play scored three times on Saturday, and it started two minutes into the second period. With Taylor Davidson in the box for cross-checking, Whitney Dove sent a pass from below the goal line into the slot and Cassidy MacPherson fired it towards the net. Summer-Rae Dobson appeared to score the Beauts first goal, getting a stick on the puck right before it bounced over the goal line.

Three minutes and 42 seconds later, Claudia Kepler gave the Beauts their first lead of the night, taking a smooth pass from Mikyla Grant-Mentis and going top shelf on Chuli. Grant-Mentis was rewarded for her generosity a few minutes later, scoring her first goal of the season against her former team to make it 3-1 Buffalo; on the power play a few minutes after Kepler’s goal, Grant-Mentis showed off her incredible hand-eye coordination with a baseball swing, batting a flying puck out of the air and into a wide-open net.

Shiann Darkangelo answered a few minutes later for the Six, but the Beauts went into the second intermission with a one-goal lead over the visitors.

Leah Lum scored for Toronto at the 4:04 mark of the third, tying things up, but the Beauts took the lead once again on their third PP goal of the night when captain Dominique Kremer fired a shot from the point that ricochetted off defender Kati Tabin’s stick and past her own netminder.

Tabin scored her second goal of the night a few minutes later, this time for her own team, unleashing a shot from the point to make it 4-4. With less than three minutes remaining in regulation, Darkangelo notched her second goal of the game to give Toronto the lead, and Breanne Wilson-Bennett picked up the empty-netter to secure the win for the Six.

The Beauts will have the next two weekends off for the holiday break before hosting the Minnesota Whitecaps back at Northtown Ice Arena in the first weekend of January. Their first game against the ‘Caps will be Saturday, January 7 at 7 p.m. EST.

About the Buffalo Beauts

The Buffalo Beauts are a professional women's ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York and competing in the Premier Hockey Federation (formerly the National Women’s Hockey League). The Beauts are one of the Founding Four teams that stepped on the ice in 2015 and the 2017 Isobel Cup Champions. The team is owned and operated by NLTT Hockey Ventures. Visit beauts.nwhl.zone to learn more.

About the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF)

The PHF is the leading home of professional women’s hockey in North America. Established in 2015 as the National Women’s Hockey League, the NWHL rebranded to become the PHF in 2021 and maintains the mission to provide strong role models and fuel the continued growth of the sport. The league is made up of the Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, Metropolitan Riveters, Minnesota Whitecaps, Montreal Force and the Toronto Six who all compete annually for the Isobel Cup.