On Friday night, with their season on the line, the Minnesota Frost rallied for three third-period goals to defeat the Montreal Victoire 3-1 and force a winner-take-all fifth game.
Frost battle back in the third
Game 4 was another goaltending duel through two periods, but Montreal finally snuck one past Maddie Rooney early in the third. After a scrum in front of the Frost net, the puck kicked loose, and Maureen Murphy was alone in front to hammer it home. Murphy’s goal was her first of the playoffs, and it gave the Victoire the lead.
Montreal continued to press after their opening goal. Minutes later, Kaitlin Willoughby flew down the ice on a breakaway and tried to slide a backhand past Rooney. Rooney made the save and kept the deficit at one.
“For me, it’s just having a next shot mentality and staying in the present,” Frost goaltender Maddie Rooney told reporters postgame. “Goals are gonna go in that’s hockey but it’s how I respond to that. Obviously we had a loss in triple overtime and yesterday but it’s how you respond to that.”
Minutes after the breakaway save, the Frost emphatically responded. Britta Curl-Salemme took a pass from Sam Cogan and moved the puck to Sidney Morin at the point. Morin walked to the middle and fired a wrister that beat Desbiens. The goal was Morin’s third of the series and second in as many games. Cogan and Curl-Salemme picked up their first points of the series on the Morin goal.
Morin scored again later in the period on the power play to give the Frost the lead. Morin’s power play goal snapped an 0-for-13 streak on the power play for the Frost dating back to game one. Kelly Pannek added an empty-netter late in the third to seal the 3-1 win for Minnesota.
Minnesota’s resilience on display
The Frost displayed their resilience in a number of aspects of their game on Friday, particularly on the power play. Minnesota bounced back from an 0-for-7 night on the power play on Thursday and scored a massive power play goal late in the third period.
“It’s good to capitalize at opportune times. Our power play has been working, it just hadn’t found a way to get one the last couple of games. But we were the number one power play in the league all year so I think it’s just staying with the process, shooting pucks, getting traffic, all those things,” Frost head coach Ken Klee said postgame.
For Morin, her goalscoring outburst in this series has been a welcome surprise, but not unexpected.
“Just playing with a little bit of confidence with the puck you know, and having the will to want it and be the one to do it. I think that makes a huge difference,” Morin said postgame.
Morin was a steady presence on the Frost backline throughout the regular season but she’s stepped up her game in these playoffs. She has played a ton in this series alongside Lee Stecklein. Morin and Stecklein lead Frost defenders in plus-minus at +3. With two more goals tonight, Morin has four goals in four playoff games.
“I’ve been playing this game for a long time, and I’m an older player in this league. I think I have a lot of experience and these big moments don’t scare me. I think that is making all the difference right now,” Morin said.
Morin, Rooney, and the rest of the Frost will need to lean on all the experience they’ve got in Game 5.
“We’ve been there, We’ve won there so just having that confidence from game one and knowing that we can get it done in that arena despite that they have good energy and good fans. But we know we can get it done,” Rooney said.
Game 5 will be on Monday, May 11th, at Place Bell at 6:00 PM CT. The winner will move on to the Walter Cup Final.