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In front of sellout crowd, Whale pull away from New York for first win of year

Connecticut's Kelly Babstock had a goal and an assist to help the Whale beat New York Sunday, 4-2 in NWHL action.

Connecticut’s Kelly Babstock had a goal and an assist to help the Whale beat New York Sunday, 4-2 in NWHL action.

NEWARK. N.J. – Molly Engstrom and Kelly Babstock scored second period goals and the National Women Hockey League’s leading scorer Haley Skarupa had two assists to lead the Connecticut Whale to their first NWHL victory of the season with a 4-2 win over the New York Riveters Sunday at the Prudential Center’s Barnabas Health Hockey House.

Skarupa now has three goals and three assists in her first two professional contests. Skarupa had assists on both Connecticut goals in the second period. The Whale played in front of a sellout crowd at Hockey House – the first sellout crowd in Riveter history.

A power play goal from Nicole Connery and a second goal from Nicole Kosta just three minutes later gave Connecticut a 2-1 lead with 3:04 left in the first period. The Riveters (0-1-1) tied the game with 1:34 left in the opening period.

Connecticut (1-1) took control in the second period with Engstrom scoring off an assist from Skarupa and Kelli Stack just 58 seconds into the second period. Behind the net, Skarupa flipped the puck across the front of the net to a wide open Engstrom. Kelly Babstock’s goal with 3:14 left in the second period with a hard slap shot from near the top of the circle to extend Connecticut’s lead to two goals.

Connecticut goalie Nicole Stock earned her first win of the year in net, stopping 33 shots.

Connecticut 4, New York 2
At Newark ,N.J.
Connecticut (1-1)             2  2  0  — 2
New York (0-1-1)             2  0  0  — 0
First period
New York 1, Miye D’Oench (Madison Packer, Ashley Johnson), 7:36; Connecticut 1, Nicole Connery (Nicole Kosta, Dana Trivigno) 14:01 (pp); Connecticut 2, Kosta (Kelly Babstock, Molly Engstrom), 16:56; New York 2, Courtney Burke (Rebecca Russo), 18:26; Penalties – Kelly Babstock, CT, roughing, 8:10; Cydney Roseler, CT, hooking, 10:39; Madison Packer, NY, hooking 12:41; Packer, NY, slashing, 19:07; Dana Trivigno, CT, slashing, 19:07
Second period
Connecticut 3, Molly Engstrom (Haley Skarupa, Kelli Stack), 0:58; Connecticut 4, Babstock (Skarupa, Ivana Bilic), 17:36; Penalties: Kaleigh Fratkin, NY, hooking, 12:29
Third period
No scoring; Penalties: Fratkin, NY, tripping, 13:19; Kelly Babstock, CT, tripping, 17:08

Shots: Connecticut 38 (8-19-11), New York 35 (5-17-13); Power plays: Connecticut 1-3, New York 0-3
Saves: Nicole Stock, Connecticut (W, 1-0), 35 shots, 33 saves; Katie Fitzgerald, New York, 38 shots, 34 saves; Penalty shots: Shannon Doyle, Connecticut, 0-1

NWHL standings

W L OL Pts GF GA
Boston 3 0 0 6 12 5
Buffalo 1 1 1 3 7 10
Connecticut 1 1 0 2 8 7
New York 0 1 1 1 5 10

Saturday’s result
Boston 2, Buffalo 1, OT
Sunday’s result
Connecticut 4, New York 2

Saturday, Oct, 22
New York at Boston, 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 23
Connecticut at Buffalo, 3:30 p.m.

Since 2009, the Collinsville Press has been providing award-winning coverage of sports and news in the Farmington Valley and across Connecticut.

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