The Race is On

With just 9 games left for most of the teams, the competition for the playoffs is on. The first four spots have already been claimed by Denver, Michigan, Texas and San Francisco, but the last four are still up for grasp for several teams, including Boston who is currently 8 points behind San Diego in the 8th spot.

The Devils are definitely looking upwards in the stands. Five out of nine games take place in Boston for the Devils, and despite two losses in a row at home, coach Landers feel confident about the girls.

"We really feel we won one of the two last games. Overtime loss to Miami was practically a win with the way we played. That one point was a steal and we're not gonna lie about that. But a 5-2 loss like the other night is not something to be proud of. We need to fight back tonight and make sure the points stay here in Boston. We've already had a good run with 8 straight wins at home this season, and there's no reason we can't have 5 straight now."

The Los Angeles Suns are coming to Boston for their first and only game here this season and should put up a good fight considering their chances for a playoff spot this year. The two games against the Suns have been even this year, each team with a win, and both games decided by one goal.

Jane Rizzoli missed four games with her knee injury, but seemed to be fit for fight in the previous game, her first after the injury, where she scored a goal. C Nicole Taylor appeared to miss her friend during the injury and it should be interesting to see if they can find back to the chemistry that was dominating for over a month before the injury. If they do, anything is possible for the Boston Daredevils.


Jane was in a rarely good mood before the game against the Suns. She couldn't really figure it out herself and just ran along with it. She was early for their team meeting, she felt good in warmup and was unusually chatty in the locker room before the game. She only shut her mouth when coach Landers came in for the final pep talk, but as soon as he was gone, she opened her mouth again. Heather had given up on trying to calm her down, and Nicole was just happy her place in the room was too far away for Jane to jabber away. But when the minutes passed and they all got ready to leave the room, Jane was right behind Nicole and carefully tapped on her shoulder. "Hey, did you hear who scored last night?"

Nicole laughed and turned around. "I'm not sure I wanna know the answer to that."

Jane grinned and tapped her stick a couple of times on the floor. "P. Hartwell. Seven minutes and three seconds into the first period."

"Who the hell is P. Hart-"

The look on Nicole's face when she remembered the name, made Jane laugh. "Yeah… I think she's number 74 on the Miami Sharks or something…"

Heather laughed out loud behind Jane, and Nicole shook her head. "You're such an ass… still!" she complained and turned forwards as the girls in front of her started moving.

"I know, I know" Jane smirked. "A real badass, but thanks for saying it out loud. It's been a long time since I last heard it."

"Wow…" Heather laughed and shook her head. "You're on fire tonight, Jane. I hope you're saving some of that trash talk for the game."

Jane just nodded and kept walking, automatically touching the Devils logo on the wall like all the others did.

As they reached the bench area, Louisa who led the pack, stopped to wait for the announcer. As soon as he had done his job, the girls jumped on the ice followed by cheers and applause. Jane waited patiently as the second last in line and kept her eyes peeled forward. She noticed Maura standing to the left, and thoughts immediately started to spin in Jane's head. They had seen each other several times during the last two days, but Jane had never managed to do or say anything out of the ordinary. She had never been really sure if it was the right thing, or if she even had the guts. But as she watched the line moving forwards that night, she smiled and decided to just go for it. She already felt pretty good that day, so why not?

When the girl before Nicole made it to the ice, Jane was right next to Maura and took a small step to the left. Maura didn't notice it until Jane leaned down to her. "You look really nice today" she whispered and smiled.

Maura looked up and blinked before she stuttered a 'thank you'.

"My pleasure" Jane replied before she took two long steps forward and jumped on the ice. She looked over her shoulder, pleased with herself when she saw Maura look down at her own clothes before searching the ice for Jane. Their eyes met, and Jane was positive the doctor was blushing. "Sweet…" Jane whispered to herself through her smile.


The game that everyone had predicted to be even, turned out to be just that. After two periods they were even at 3 on the scoreboard, and everything from shots on goal to hits were close. There was an edge to everything every player did on the ice. The playoff fever was certainly present and made it a very enjoyable game to watch. Jane had kept up her talking from before the game, and was constantly up in someone's face, preferably someone on the Suns, and chirping away. It paid off as more than one player was getting annoyed, but besides a few shoves things were calm on the ice.

The third period started with the Devils on the penalty kill and with a few good chances for Los Angeles, but the puck never crossed the line. The Devils had just killed off the penalty when a hard shot hit one of their defensemen who crumbled to the ice, holding her wrist. It looked bad from where Jane was standing, and even the referee decided to stop the play. Jane stood still and waited, she didn't even see Maura before she was being helped by Nicole over to their injured player. Fortunately, it was nothing serious and their team mate got up and skated off by herself. Jane tapped her stick on the ice along with everyone else, but kept her eyes on Maura who was making her way over to the bench again. She had to smile by the slight stumble in Maura's step and was about to skate over and offer her support when Maura looked up and locked eyes on Jane.

It somehow made Jane freeze in her place and just return the look. Every once in a while, the doctor had this look in her eyes that Jane had yet to find a way to describe. It was confidence, Maura knowing she had the upper hand and determination all wrapped up in one. Jane was always thrown off by that look, and before she had managed to gather herself, Maura was right in front of her and not in need of any help as the bench was just a few steps away.

Except this night seemed to be Jane's lucky night. That confidence vanished in the blink of an eye when the doctor slipped on the ice, arms flailing. Jane didn't even know what was happening until she had reached out and prevented the doctor from falling and most likely making the audience laugh. Her arm was wrapped around Maura, and their eyes met again.

"Thank you… again" Maura smiled and carefully put her feet flat on the ice again.

"Yeah" Jane stuttered until she saw the flustered look on Maura's face. "Anytime" she added with a smile and slowly let go. She didn't have a chance to see Maura's reaction as she hurried down the tunnel to do her job. Instead Jane turned around to continue the game.


Ten minutes later and Jane had turned her good night into an amazing night. Not content with just one assist on the three first goals, she had given everything she had in the last period. It paid off right away as she scored merely minutes after her interaction with Maura. Luckily the doctor had returned and saw the goal.

To top it off, she scored two more just minutes apart, noting her second hat trick of the season and securing the win for the Devils. The hats rained down on the ice as the audience sacrificed theirs to celebrate. Jane stood by the bench and watched with a huge smile. Her team was still busy patting her helmet, and their goal song boomed from the speakers. She could really get used to that. The ice crew was busy cleaning up and Jane noticed a black and gold hat on the ice not too far from her. It looked like it was brand new and Jane swooped it up with her stick. It was a Bruins hat and Jane decided to be a bit cruel and skated past the bench and tossed it up among the audience again. She noticed some of the people laughing as they saw the hat, and Jane smiled at them before she returned to the bench. Nicole was looking at her, and Jane just shrugged. "We're not in TD Garden… we're black and red, dammit." Nicole chuckled and just shook her head.


It was difficult to keep her cool and not gloat too much after the game when the media was gathered around her. She patiently answered their question, repeating much of the same answers but with other words. In between questions, she noticed the doctor had shown up and was lurking in the background along with players waiting to be interviewed. Jane fought to keep her eyes on the reporters, but constantly found herself glancing in Maura's direction. And soon she started to itch to get out of the spotlight.

When the reporters were finally happy, Jane sneaked away and strode over to Maura who smiled at her.

"Congratulations! Twice in one season, very impressive."

"Thanks… I'm kinda surprised myself."

Maura laughed softly and put one hand in her pocket. "And very modest. Also impressive."

Jane smiled and looked around, noticing one of her team mates had taken her place in the spotlight, and she was practically alone with the doctor. "I think it was your fault though" she almost whispered. As she suspected, she got a questionable look and she had to kill a laugh. "I think complementing you was my lucky charm tonight. Maybe I have to do it more often from now on." It took every muscle in her legs to walk away without adding a wink, a confident grin or even a look. She forced herself down the hall until she reached the corner. Only then did she look over her shoulder and saw a slightly perplexed doctor looking at her. Jane smiled softly before she turned the corner and hurried to their locker room.