PWHL Minnesota dealt PWHL Boston their first loss of the PWHL Playoffs on Tuesday, shutting out Boston 3-0. With the win, Minnesota tied their series with Boston 1-1, splitting at the Tsongas Center to start the best-of-five PWHL Finals.
Boston had yet to lose a game in the postseason, establishing the first-ever PWHL Playoff sweep when they won three straight games against Montreal in the semifinals to advance.
“I don’t think that we ever thought that we were just going to sweep through the playoffs. I think that’s very unrealistic,” Boston’s head coach Courtney Kessel said following the loss.
“I thought it was a great game. They capitalized, we didn't. You can't come into a championship thinking you’re going to sweep, so we’re ready for a battle and that’s what I saw tonight,” Kessel said.
The loss ended Boston’s six-game win streak and marked the first time they were shut out since March 13 -- in a 4-0 loss to Minnesota. The 3-0 outcome also ended Boston’s streak of one-goal games, after previously playing in 12 straight one-goal games heading into Game 2 of the Finals on Tuesday.
Here’s a breakdown of Boston’s 3-0 loss:
Boston allowed two goals in the first period, when Michela Cava scored her second goal of the series and Sophie Jaques scored less than two minutes later to make it 2-0.
Boston’s best scoring chance came in the second period, when Jess Healey put the puck in the back of the net, but the goal was disallowed due to an early whistle that preceded the shot and was not heard by all on the ice.
Here’s what both coaches had to say about the confusion surrounding the disallowed goal:
“We all heard a whistle on the [Minnesota] bench,” Minnesota head coach Ken Klee said. “Definitely a whistle was blown, and then our players kind of stopped playing and then all of a sudden we see the puck pop free and then get shot into the net.”
“They said the whistle blew before the puck went in the net,” Kessel said. “Yeah, so I think the whistle blew too early.”
Boston pushed back throughout the final two periods, but was unable to score on any of their four power-play opportunities -- something they’ve struggled with all season.
“Obviously something has to change. We did a few things throughout the year, but at the end of the day it’s going to be the death of us if we can't put the puck in the net on our power play,” Kessel said.
As time wound down, Kessel pulled Boston netminder Aerin Frankel with 2:45 remaining in the game and Jaques scored her second goal into the empty net just 16 seconds later. Jaques’ second goal of the night against her old team punctuated Minnesota’s 3-0 win. Minnesota’s goalie Nicole Hensley ended with a 20-save shutout.
“It could be a reset, just a reminder of, ‘We’ve faced adversity all season.’ So here we are again, it’s 1-1, and this is what everyone is looking forward to, good hockey in the playoffs,” Kessel said.
Game 3 of the PWHL Finals is set to take place at Minnesota’s Xcel Energy Center on Friday night at 7 p.m. ET. as the series shifts to Minnesota for the next two games. Boston and Minnesota would play Game 5 in Lowell, if needed, on May 29 to determine the winner of the first-ever Walter Cup.