On Tuesday night, the Minnesota Frost were eliminated from the Walter Cup playoffs after a 2-1 loss to the Montréal Victoire in Game 5 of their semi-final series. With the win, the Victoire will move on and face the Ottawa Charge in the Walter Cup Final.
For the first time in PWHL history, the Minnesota Frost will not win the Walter Cup.
Frost unable to capitalize in Game 5
In many ways, Game 5 was the best game of the series for the Minnesota Frost. They outshot Montreal 26-17, created a number of scoring chances, and controlled play for large portions of the game.
Frost head coach Ken Klee was proud of the way his team played.
“I’m obviously super proud of our group,” Klee told reporters postgame. “We’re not only back-to-back champs but to come out in a Game 5 situation where we’re on the road again, our backs against the wall, and these ladies just played unbelievably.”
Although they outshot and outchanced the Victoire, the Frost were not able to convert their chances, thanks in large part to Montreal goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens. Desbiens was once again sensational in Game 5. She made 25 saves, including several jaw-dropping stops.
Desbiens was magnificent, and Montreal’s stars found the back of the net when they needed it most. With the game tied in the third period, Marie-Philip Poulin walked out of the corner on the power play and beat Maddie Rooney high on the short side. Poulin’s goal was her second of the series and her series-leading fifth point in five games.
The Frost pushed hard for an equalizer. They created plenty of chances following the Poulin goal, outshooting Montreal 7-2 after the goal. However, Montreal’s defense stood tall. They blocked 9 Frost shot attempts in the final 17 minutes of the period.
“We knew they were going to have a little push in the 3rd. They made a nice play, but you know, for us to get within one period of being back in the finals again is just a tribute to them [his players] and how hard they work and what great people and players they are,” Klee said.
Depth scoring comes through for the Frost
A big reason the Frost led the PWHL in scoring in the regular season was their depth. In the playoffs, the depth scoring showed up again. In Game 5, late-season acquisition Sam Cogan scored the Frost’s only goal.
Cogan, along with linemates Britta Curl-Salemme and Katy Knoll, made up the Frost’s best line in the final two games of the series. In Game 4, Cogan and Curl-Salemme picked up assists on Sidney Morin’s third-period game-tying goal.
Morin stepped up in a big way in this series. She tallied four goals in five games, including two goals in the game four win in St. Paul. Beyond the points, Morin logged big minutes alongside Lee Stecklein. Stecklein and Morin were the only Frost defenders to finish with a positive plus-minus.
The depth scoring made up for an uncharacteristically quiet series from a number of the Frost’s stars. Taylor Heise, Grace Zumwinkle, and Kendall Coyne Schofield all finished the series with two points apiece. Heise and Zumwinkle scored both their points in Game 1 and were held off the scoresheet in the remaining games. Coyne Schofield tallied her only goal in Game 1, and an assist in Game 3. However, it wasn’t for a lack of chances. Victoire goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens was a big reason Montreal was able to keep the Frost’s offensive stars in check.
Special teams decide the game and the series.
As it so often does, special teams decided this series. In the regular season, the Minnesota Frost had the best power play in the PWHL, and the Montreal Victoire had the league’s best penalty kill.
In this series, the league’s best penalty kill won out. The Frost went 2/18 on the power play (11.1%). The Frost won the two games in which they scored power play goals, and lost the three games they didn’t.
On the other side of things, the league’s second-best power play in the regular season proved to be too much for the Frost’s league-worst penalty kill. The Victoire went 3/12 on the power play (25%) in the series.
In Game 5, the Victoire were 1/1 on the power play, and the Frost were 0/1.
Small margins
The Frost and the Victoire were incredibly evenly matched in this five-game series. Four of the five games of the series were decided by a single goal. In the end, the Frost and the Victoire both scored ten goals across the five games. Minnesota outshot the Victoire 152-143 across the five games combined.
“I think we know every game in this league is intense. You get to the playoffs, and it just ramps up another notch,” Klee said. “It’s not surprising that they [the games] were close to with amazing goalies in net. Unfortunately, we just didn’t find a way to get a few more in.”
In the end, sometimes it’s as simple as that: sometimes the puck goes in, sometimes it doesn’t. The Minnesota Frost needed the puck to go in a couple more times on Tuesday night. It didn’t, and for the first time, the Walter Cup final will be played without them.