NWHL Isobel Cup Preview: Boston Pride vs. Buffalo Beauts

For the upstart NWHL, reaching the Isobel Cup final is a victory within itself. There were many within hockey pundit circles who didn't have the league surviving past January.

Now they're in the final series of the first season with a compelling story line attached to it.

The Boston Pride is the league's top seed and was heavily favored from the start to win it all. They dispatched of the New York Riveters in two games to advance to the final. The Buffalo Beauts upset the Connecticut Whale in three games to advance.

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It's David versus Goliath, and should be a great best-of-three series.

Game #1: Friday, March 11 at 7:30pm ET at the Prudential Center Practice Facility in Newark, New Jersey. (Stream: FREE on Cross-Ice Pass)

Game #2: Saturday, March 12 at 7:30pm at the Prudential Center Practice Facility. (Stream: FREE on Cross-Ice Pass)

Game #3 (if necessary): Sunday, March 13 at 1:30pm ET at the Prudential Center Practice Facility. (Stream: FREE on Cross-Ice Pass)

SEASON SERIES

FORWARDS

Up and down the Boston Pride lineup are Olympians, collegiate champions, and more. The most lethal one-two punch in the entire NWHL is Hilary Knight and Brianna Decker. In the regular season, the duo sat in the top two slots in the league in scoring with 33 and 29 points, respectively, in 17 games. If Buffalo can manage to wrangle those two, the Pride have waves of other forwards who can score.

The Beauts lost Game 1 of the series against the Connecticut Whale in large part because they were without two of the team’s leading scorers – Kelley Steadman and Meghan Duggan. The two work with collegiate programs and had prior commitments. Steadman returned in Game 2 and immediately gave the Beauts the lift they needed to stay alive in the competition. Duggan provided the proverbial nail in the coffin when she came back in Game 3. Steadman is expected to play throughout the series. Duggan is a wild card. Clarkson University, where she coaches, is in the NCAA tournament, and has a game on Saturday in Connecticut. Expect the Beauts to lean heavily on Kourtney Kunichika and Devon Skeats to pick up the slack.

ADVANTAGE: BOSTON

DEFENSE

The Pride's defense is led by Gigi Marvin and Kacey Bellamy. Marvin converted from forward to defense, and it shows in her numbers. She was the second highest scoring defenseman in the NWHL during the regular season, and is tied for second in the postseason. Bellamy is an anchor for the crew. Behind Decker and Knight, she recorded the most assists.

Megan Bozek and Emily Pfalzer are the top two defenders and scorers on the Beauts, and were both named to Team USA's World Championship roster. Bozek is a freight train on skates and will crush opponents. Pfalzer is small but ridiculously fast. The captain will join the rush, acting as a fourth forward in.

ADVANTAGE: BUFFALO

GOALTENDING

Brittany Ott is a steady presence in goal With a 13-1-1 record, it's an easy conclusion to make. The thing is, she really hasn't been tested all that much. Despite playing 17 games, she faced the least amount of shots of any NWHL goaltender during the entire regular season. She is fortunate to have a mighty team in front of her that can keep the score high and hold on to the puck in the offensive zone for long periods of time.

As we see throughout hockey, having a hot goaltender going into the playoffs can mean the difference in a series. Brianne McLaughlin is that hot hand for the Beauts. She played three games in three days against the Whale. After dropping Game 1, she, like her team, found that proverbial next level. She just needs to watch her decision making when it comes to playing the puck. In Game 3, she was caught wandering multiple times and was fortunate to have her teammates there to stop the puck.

ADVANTAGE: PUSH

SPECIAL TEAMS

In the regular season, the Pride were second in the league on both the power play (19.2%) and penalty kill (84.4%). Over two playoff games against the New York Riveters, the Pride improved their PP to 38.5%, but their penalty kill dropped to 60%.

Special teams is what pushed the Beauts to the Cup final, surprising given their regular season track record. In the regular season, the Beauts had the most power play opportunities but only converted at 15.6%. While they were the least penalized team, they were also the worst on the penalty kill at 78.4%. In the playoffs, Buffalo's power play is still weak at 15.4%. Their penalty kill has completely turned around. Against the league's best power play unit in Connecticut, the Beauts had a success rate of 87.5% on a league high 16 times shorthanded.

ADVANTAGE: PUSH

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Boston: Hilary Knight. Why? Because she's Hilary Knight.

Buffalo: Hailey Browne. There is something about Boston that brings out the best in Browne. The forward finished the regular season with five goals and 12 points. Of those 12 points, 7 came against the Pride with 4 goals and 3 assists.

PREDICTION: BOSTON IN THREE. The Beauts weren't expected to be here playing for the Isobel Cup and they have all the motivation in the world to give everything. If Boston has one knock against them, it's complacency when they have the lead, so it's conceivable the Beauts make a game out of it. Yet, this Pride team is so damn good on offense, it could overpower the Beauts' strong defense. Boston's roster is full of players who won the Clarkson Cup last year in the CWHL. They know they're good and have that scary extra gear they can kick in.

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Jen Neale is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @MsJenNeale_PD.

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