PWHL Minnesota falls 4-0 at Toronto in franchise's first playoff recreation – Star Tribune

Because the No. 1 seed within the inaugural Skilled Ladies’s Hockey League playoffs, Toronto selected No. 4 seed Minnesota as its opening-round opponent.
With a 4-0 loss Wednesday evening at Coca-Cola Coliseum in Sport 1 of the best-of-five collection, PWHL Minnesota is at risk of turning into the final in, first out of the Walter Cup chase.
Fledgling Minnesota did nothing to tug out of the 5 consecutive losses to finish the common season, a hunch making Minnesota unable to clinch a playoff berth by itself.
Toronto drew an introduced crowd of 8,473 followers. And Coca-Cola Coliseum would be the website of Sport 2 Friday. The collection strikes to Xcel Power Heart for Sport 3 on Monday, and a possible Sport 4 could be at Xcel on Wednesday. Toronto would host Sport 5 on Friday, Might 17, if vital.
Nothing from Wednesday’s playoff opener advised a fourth or fifth recreation could be vital. It was all Toronto from the bounce and it carried proper by way of till the tip.
Natalie Spooner, the PWHL main scorer with 20 regular-season targets, netted the league’s historic first playoff aim at 9:47 of the opening interval. Teammate Emma Maltais buried a power-play likelihood solely 55 seconds into interval two. Later within the interval, Blayre Turnbull redirected a puck off her skate and into the Minnesota web for a 3-0 lead at 15:05. Turnbull added her staff’s fourth aim with lower than one minute remaining.
Minnesota outshot Toronto PWHL 26-19, however Toronto goaltender Kristen Campbell stopped all pictures confronted within the recreation.
Logistics issues hampered Minnesota’s preparation efforts. The league makes all of the journey preparations, and gamers flew with coach Ken Klee on to Toronto on Monday morning. The staff’s tools got here on one other flight and, a number of delays later, didn’t arrive till 11 p.m. Consequently, Minnesota missed a apply alternative.
“It is senseless,” Klee advised native reporters after Wednesday morning’s skate. “You may’t ask a staff to journey in six hours after which they cannot even get all on the identical flight. … We have to function as a top-class league. We have to ensure that’s so as.”
The Star Tribune didn’t ship the author of this text to the sport. This was written utilizing a broadcast, interviews and different materials.
David La Vaque is a highschool sports activities reporter who has been the lead highschool hockey author for the Star Tribune since 2010. He’s co-author of “Tourney Time,” a e book in regards to the historical past of Minnesota’s boys hockey state match revealed in 2020 and up to date in 2024.
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