The Minnesota Frost are headed back to the Walter Cup playoffs. They punched their ticket with a 6-5 win over the Vancouver Goldeneyes on home ice Saturday.

Unlike the last two seasons however, where the Frost waited until the final hours of the season to secure their playoff berth, Minnesota still has five games remaining in their schedule.

"In the beginning of the year, we talk about getting points, right? It's a huge accomplishment for our whole group to be able to say that we're going to be in the Walter Cup playoffs again and giving ourselves a chance," said Minnesota head coach Ken Klee. "It's nicer with five games left, that way we can clean up some small details. It's not just a switch you turn, so we know we've got to keep building, keep playing well. We did some really good things tonight. We did some things that weren't so good, and they obviously capitalized on our opportunities as well."

Vancouver looked like they would spoil Minnesota's hopes of clinching on home ice as Sarah Nurse scored only 1:18 into the game, and the Goldeneyes built a 4-2 lead in the second period.

Minnesota however, powered by Kelly Pannek, came from behind to beat Vancouver and punch their ticket to the postseason.

Kelly Pannek scored twice and added two assists in the win to climb to 14 goals and 28 points in 25 games this season. Both marks stand alone atop the PWHL charts as she leads the goal scoring race and points race by a pair each.

“I think it's really entertaining, it's high-paced," said Pannek of the 11 combined goals scored between the teams. "That tends to be the style of games that [the Goldeneyes] play in and they want their opponents to play in. I thought we did a nice job, especially in the second half of the game, getting back to our style and controlling the play for a good majority of it. It's always fun to play in front of our home fans. Another great crowd and they definitely got their money's worth with that one. Like [Coach Ken Klee] said, there's definitely some things we'd like to tighten up, but ultimately getting the win is what's so important.” 

Sitting in second in the PWHL points race is teammate Taylor Heise who had a goal and an assist in Saturday's win.

Also scoring for the Frost were Grace Zumwinkle, Katy Knoll, and Mae Batherson, while defender Lee Stecklein had a career-best three assists.

With Boston, Montreal, and Minnesota now locked into playoff spots, the race for the final playoff spot appears to be down to Ottawa, Toronto, and New York. 

Vancouver and Seattle remain mathematically in the playoff race, although it's only a matter of time before the Seattle Torrent are playing for draft order points instead of playoff points.