With 8,206 fans packed into The Arena at TD Place, the Ottawa Charge looked to build on their dramatic 2–1 overtime win in Game 1 and take a 2–0 lead before the series shifted to Minnesota. Despite another strong effort at home, the Charge fell 2–1 in overtime to the Minnesota Frost, evening the series at one game apiece.

Earlier in the day, Ottawa announced forward Kateřina Mrázová would miss Game 2 after suffering an injury in the opener. Taylor House stepped in to centre the third line alongside Anna Meixner and Rebecca Leslie.

The first period played out much like Game 1, with tight checking, plenty of neutral zone play, and no scoring, despite both teams leading the league in first-period goals. Minnesota started with an aggressive forecheck, putting pressure on Ottawa’s defenders to make quick decisions. Over the playoffs, Ottawa’s defence has grown stronger at handling that pressure, and they showed it again here, controlling the game and outshooting Minnesota 8-3 in the opening frame, a trend that continued all night.

Charge fans, always ready to cheer, were especially loud throughout the game whenever Emily Clark touched the puck. “Clarky” chants rained down from the stands, a nod to her Game 1 overtime heroics.

Ottawa came out flying in the second, playing the fast, aggressive style their fans have come to expect, and their penalty kill, strong at home all postseason, kept Minnesota off the board until the final seconds. “They’ve got a proficient power play,” said head coach Carla MacLeod.

“We’ve put a lot of detail into how to match up against it, and our players continue to rise. It's the playoffs. A 6-on-4 at the end of the game isn’t an ideal scenario, but we tried to manage it and we were close. This is what we signed up for and we find it kind of fun.”

Jocelyne Larocque opened the scoring at 17:25 of the third, cutting to the net and tucking the puck past Minnesota’s Maddie Rooney. It was her first goal as a Charge and her first career playoff goal. “It’s playoff hockey,” Larocque said. “If one goal against is going to get you down, I don't think you'd make it this far in the playoffs. We were happy with our play.”

With just 15.4 seconds left and Ottawa down two skaters, Britta Curl-Salemme tied it on a 6-on-4 power play, her second of the playoffs. For the second straight game, overtime was needed. Both teams traded chances, but Curl-Salemme found the back of the net again at 16:24 to give Minnesota the win.

Gwyneth Philips made 22 saves for Ottawa. Rooney, in her first series start, stopped 37 shots, a career high.

“It’s frustrating,” said Ottawa captain Brianne Jenner. “But this was a much better game for us than Game 1. We can take a lot of confidence from how we played. ​​We got back to our style tonight. We know it's going to be a hard-fought series.”

All six of Ottawa’s playoff games have now been decided by one goal, showing how tight this series and their whole playoff run has been. The action now shifts to Minnesota for Games 3 and 4, starting Saturday at 5:00 p.m. EST.