The Three P’s: Penalties, Power Plays and Penalty Kills

Power plays and penalty kills have been deciding factors in several games so far this season. Although some teams have racked up more minutes than others, the new rules around penalties have impacted every teams play.

Penalty Minutes

Leading the PWHL with most penalties thus far is Ottawa, with 14 penalties on the season. They are followed by Boston with 13 penalties.

In third is Montreal with nine, followed by New York with eight, Toronto with seven and Minnesota with three.

Other teams like the Minnesota Frost, haven’t faced as many penalty kill minutes. Minnesota has three penalties on the season. However, two out of Minnesota’s three penalties were committed by Maggie Flaherty, who was suspended two games following a hit on Boston’s Alina Muller.

No Escape Rule

Each team has adapted to the new league rules this season, specifically the “No Escape Rule”.

The PWHL introduced earlier this season the “No Escape Rule”. The rule states that players who are on the ice when a penalty is assessed against their team, must remain on to start the penalty kill, similar to how players are trapped on the ice following an icing.

Nine games into the 2024-25 PWHL season, many teams have been faced with the “no escape rule”. Some teams have seen it more than others, like the Boston Fleet, who have served 26 minutes in the box this season over three games.

For them, adjusting to the rule has been a change. Megan Keller said, “It just takes some communication. Depending on who you have out there, if you have three forwards, somebody's got to stay low and be in front of that” she continued, “if you're at the end of a long shift and you have to stay out there, you just have to grind it out.”

The team has been successful in penalty kill, allowing just two goals in thirteen penalty kills.

The New York Sirens faced the Fleet on Sunday afternoon. The Sirens racked up six penalty minutes, half of what Boston left the game with, but they still had to adjust to the new rule.

New York Sirens’ Paetyn Levis said playing with the rule hasn’t caused issues for the team.

“I think we've done pretty well. We've practiced a lot so that everyone kills. I think everyone's on the same page with what we have to do. If we have more forwards and defense out there, we have non-killers. I think we've done well adjusting” said Levis.

The adjustment has been felt throughout the league and as teams manage how to adapt to it, Boston seems to have figured it out.

The solution, Keller said was “just some communication, you just got to play as a unit, and everybody needs to know their roles”.

Player Safety

Just three games into the season, the Boston Fleet have already seen two five-minute major calls that have been overturned.

The first being in Wednesday’s game against the Minnesota Frost where Flaherty hit Alina Muller, taking her out of the game. The hit was initially called a five-minute major but then downgraded on ice to be a two-minute minor for accidental contact.

The Player Safety Committee then came out with a statement suspending Flaherty for two games.

A similar moment occurred in Sunday’s game against the New York Sirens. This time it was Boston who issued the hit.

Susanna Tapani hit Sirens’ Sarah Fillier, with what was initially called a five-minute major. Once again, after further review on ice, the play was downgraded for inconclusive results.

Sirens Head Coach Greg Fargo said, “The officials relayed that the video that they had was inconclusive. They couldn't see it, and so it was a call they made in collaboration with Toronto”.

This has to make fans wonder about the safety of players within a league where on-ice referees decisions are being overturned days after the game.

First Flaherty was suspended, but the fate of Tapani remains unknown, as of now she served a two-minute minor and that will be all.

Boston’s Muller is still inactive from the roster, and many wonder if Tapani will be suspended in the coming days.