Sophie Shirley scores twice, Amanda Thiele wins PWHL debut in goal as Fleet double up Frost 4-2

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Sophie Shirley scored two goals to make a winner of Boston rookie goaltender Amanda Thiele in her PWHL debut, and the Fleet beat the Minnesota Frost 4-2 on Sunday to clinch a spot in the postseason.

Shirley gave Boston (13-5-2-4) two-goal leads in the first and third periods to help the Fleet move five points in front of Montreal and nine ahead of third-place Minnesota (11-3-3-6) with three weeks left in the regular season. All three of her goals this year have come in the last two matches.

Thiele got her first start when Aerin Frankel was given the day off after she posted a league-record three straight shutouts and a scoreless streak of 191 minutes, 1 second. Thiele, a two-time NCAA champion at Ohio State, saved 23 shots. The Fleet’s scoreless stretch reached 211:24 before it ended.

Haley Winn upped her point streak to four straight matches when she scored for the fourth time this season to give Boston a 1-0 lead at 9:11 in the first period. Shirley was in the right spot to redirect a shot with 3:14 left for a two-goal lead.

Lee Stecklein scored for the first time this season just 23 seconds into the second period to cut it to 2-1. Kendall Coyne Schofield, who was activated from long-term injured reserve before the match, snagged her seventh assist. Kelly Pannek added her 11th assist and became the third Frost player to reach 50 career points — 19 goals and 31 assists.

Coyne Schofield and Klára Hymlárová set up Taylor Heise for a point-blank shot in front of the net and Minnesota tied it 2-2 with 10:41 left in the second.

Former Frost center Liz Schepers answered less than two minutes later with her third goal in the last two matches and her career-high fifth this season, scoring unassisted to give Boston a 3-2 lead. Shirley capped the scoring at 5:16 in the third.

Boston is 16-2 when scoring first this season but has whiffed on 29 straight power-play opportunities.

Boston defender Rylind MacKinnon was fined $500 by the league for an incident that ensued in the Fleet’s 4-0 victory over the Toronto Sceptres on Friday night.