From looking playoff secure, to four straight losses and the potential for elimination on the season's final day, it's now do or die for PWHL Minnesota.
From looking playoff secure, to four straight losses and the potential for elimination on the season's final day, it's now do or die for PWHL Minnesota.
Two goals from Natalie Spooner sunk PWHL Minnesota Wednesday night as they dropped its fourth consecutive contest 4-1 to Toronto at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
A three-point night from Emma Maltais offset a 19-save performance from Maddie Rooney, sending Minnesota into a must-win game Saturday afternoon versus New York.
"We need a point to get in the playoffs, but we weren't able to get the job done tonight," Kendall Coyne Schofield said following the game.
After a back-and-forth start, Michela Cava tipped Maggie Flaherty's point shot to open the scoring four minutes into the game, silencing Toronto's home crowd.
Moments later, Clair DeGeorge took the contest's first penalty, sending Toronto's power play unit onto the ice. The home squad made quick work of their opportunity.
Following a brief back-and-forth passing play between Maltais and Sarah Nurse, the latter fed the former below the goal line. Nurse found Hannah Miller open at the left hashmark, who one-timed it past Rooney to knot the game at one.
Minnesota got its first go with the player advantage as Renata Fast took a cross-checking penalty with 1:18 remaining in the opening frame.
As the clock winded down, the penalized side committed another infraction as the buzzer sounded. Maltais hooked Lee Stecklein in Minnesota's end, giving the visitors to a rare five-on-three power play to begin the middle frame.
Toronto killed off Minnesota's lengthy five-on-three and an additional two-minute chance minutes later, continuing the power play woes for the State of Hockey's team.
"I really liked our first period; I thought we had a lot of jump, and I felt like we were carrying the play," Minnesota's head coach Ken Klee said. "The second period was penalties both ways and we lost the special teams battle.
"The third, we were coming out firing, and then it just seemed like the net was getting smaller and smaller, and their blockers were getting bigger and bigger."
Halfway through the game, Liz Schepers sent Toronto to its second power play of the contest, and Minnesota's special team struggles flared once more.
It only took seconds for Spooner to tip home her 17th of the season, breaking the 1-1 deadlock.
Saves from Rooney and Kristen Campbell kept either side from getting back on the scoreboard before the second intermission.
"I thought [Rooney] played well; she gave us a chance to win, and we got to score more than one goal," Klee said. "When it's not going in, it's not going in, and we got to figure out a way to score more than one goal."
Lee Stecklein whiffed on a point shot seven minutes into the third, sparking Spooner to pounce on the puck and get off to the races. She got a clearcut breakaway from the center-ice line, dangled around Rooney and slid in her second of the game — league-leading 18th of the season — to give Toronto a two-goal lead with 12:39 remaining.
"As soon as she blocked that shot and took three strides and was gone, we are all like, this is going in the net," Fast said. "That's just the rate things are happening for Spoons."
Maltais iced the game with an empty net goal and Toronto won 4-1, clinching first in the PWHL. The loss marked Minnesota's fourth consecutive failed attempt to clinch a playoff spot.
Jaques's Offensive Game
Despite Minnesota's recent offensive struggles, Sophie Jaques's offensive instincts continue to add a level of lethality to its five-on-five and power play game.
"Sophie's been phenomenal," Coyne Schofield said. "She's not only great on the blueline but a great person in the room. She's added so much to our team."
Her will to wire shots from the point and look for deflections adds an element of unpredictability to Minnesota's offense, as her skating and passing prowess make her a triple threat to either thread the needle, drive the net or seek a tip in front.
"She's a great player. She's that offensive spark we were looking for as a player. We don't have a lot of offensive [defenders], but she certainly is," Klee said. "She adds a lot to the game. She's a great player for us.
While Minnesota has gone three games without scoring more than two goals, Jaques continues to be a positive for a team on a four-game skid.
Saturday's Contest
In Wednesday's contest and its previous matchup against Boston, all the team needed was a mere point to punch its ticket to the Walter Cup Playoffs.
Instead, back-to-back regulation losses — fourth straight overall — put Minnesota in dire straights entering the final weekend of the regular season.
"We still have a tomorrow," Klee said. "We still control our own destiny. We just got to put all of our focus into everyone doing their job, everyone pulling the rope in the same direction to get a win on Saturday."
Should Minnesota lose its final game of the regular season in regulation on Saturday, and Ottawa and Boston both win in regulation in its final match, Minnesota will be on the outs. Fortunately, they only need a single point, and its opponent is last-place New York, who already has the first-overall pick locked up after a gutsy win over Ottawa earlier this week.
It would take a combination of an epic collapse on Minnesota's front and heroic efforts from Ottawa and Boston for them to miss the post-season, but the thought is now fathomable.
Special Team Struggles
Minnesota's special teams failed to hold Toronto off the scoresheet while being unable to capitalize on their chances.
Multiple power plays, including a five-on-three, couldn't rectify some of their scoring woes with the player advantage, while Toronto's top unit netted two markers in three goes.
"Special teams is a key component of winning a championship, and it doesn't matter if it's here [PWHL], National Competition, NHL, whatever you're watching, special teams wins and loses you games," Coyne Schofield said. "We have to figure it out. It's not that we're not working on it, it's not that we're not looking at it. We're doing the best we can.
"We're trying to figure it out, and sometimes you're not getting the bounces, and I know once we get one, we'll continue to get them."
Minnesota's special teams continue to be a worrying aspect of an otherwise championship level team.
Minnesota plays its final game of the regular season on Saturday at UBS Arena versus New York at 1:00 p.m. ET, noon CT.
"It's do-or-die,” Coyne Schofield said. "We know what we need to do, and we have to get the job done."