By Michael Heilman

The Buffalo Beauts were looking to get back on track Sunday afternoon against the Connecticut Whale at Danbury Ice Arena. The Beauts were coming off a 6-1 loss to the Boston Pride yesterday.

The teams played hard in the first period as both goalies didn’t allow any goals. The first period ended in a scoreless tie. That would all change thirty-one seconds into the second period when Buffalo’s Taylor Accursi lifted the puck over the glove of Connecticut goalie Sonjia Shelly to put the Beauts up 1-0. Both Lenka Curmova and Iveta Klimasova assisted in Accursi’s goal. Accursi’s goal was the only goal scored in the second period as the Beauts headed to the locker room with a 1-0 lead.

Over halfway through the third period, Buffalo’s Erin Gehan passed the puck to Cassidy MacPherson, who then scored to extend the Beauts lead 2-0. Erin Gehan assisted in MacPherson’s goal.

Connecticut battled backed two minutes later as Whale’s forward Sarah Schwenzfeier scored with an assist from Kayla Meneghin to pull Connecticut within one at 2-1. With less than a minute remaining in the game, Connecticut pulled goalie Sonjia Shelly for an extra attacker. Connecticut’s plan backfired as the Beauts Kim Brown, with an assist from Iveta Klimasova, scored an empty-net goal to put the game away as the Buffalo Beauts defeated the Connecticut Whale 3-1.

Connecticut had the advantage in shots total with forty-two to Buffalo’s twenty-six. The whales were zero for six on the power play while the Beauts were zero for three. Connecticut goalie Sonjia Shelly made twenty-three of twenty-five saves, allowing two goals while Buffalo goalie Kelsey Neumann made forty-one of forty-two saves, allowing one goal.

The Connecticut Whale will now head to the Warrior Ice Arena to take on the Boston Pride next Saturday at 6:30 pm. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Beauts will return home for two games both against the Minnesota Whitecaps Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 1 pm from Northtown Center.