PWHL Minnesota avoided elimination with a 2-0 win against Toronto on Monday night in Game 3 of the PWHL semifinals.
Rookie defender Maggie Flaherty scored Minnesota’s first goal of the playoffs in the second period to end Kristen Campbell’s shutout streak at 175:46. That goal — only Flaherty’s second goal of the season — would prove to be the game-winner after Maddie Rooney posted an 18-save shutout in her second start of the postseason.
Game 3 was by far the best of the series by Minnesota, outshooting Toronto 26-18 and not giving up much in terms of quality in front of Rooney. Toronto’s stars in particular weren’t able to get much going offensively. The top line of Sarah Nurse (0), Emma Maltais (0) and Brittany Howard (1) combined for one shot on goal. Only Blayre Turnbull (5), Jocelyne Larocque (3) and Natalie Spooner (3) had more than two shots for Toronto, which had the best offense in the regular season.
It’s Minnesota’s first win since March 24 and snaps a — poorly timed — seven-game losing streak. It’s also the first game Toronto has been shutout in the postseason, and the first since Toronto’s 4-0 loss on the first day of the PWHL season on Jan. 1.
With the win, Minnesota forced a Game 4 — in the best-of-five series — on Wednesday night at the Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota.
Minnesota finally solves Kristen Campbell
In the first two games of the series, Campbell stopped all 47 shots she faced for back-to-back shutouts. She was calm and collected in her crease and seemed to be seeing every puck that made it on net.
On Monday night, Minnesota tested Campbell more and made life a little bit tougher than they had in the first two games of the series. Flaherty’s shot from the point was the 12th shot on goal only two minutes into the second period — for reference, Toronto had only three shots on goal at that point in the game. There was a ton of traffic in front of the net to take away Campbell’s eyes, and a perfect screen by Denisa Křížová.
Maggie Flaherty gets Minnesota on the board first in a must win game against Toronto! #pwhl pic.twitter.com/R9iQTfbl5p
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 14, 2024
The second goal was a mistake by Campbell, who thought she had control of the puck and dropped it right in front of Křížová who was crashing the net and buried the puck as it dropped between Campbell’s pads.
Denisa says: MY TURN!!! 🔥🔥 https://t.co/PsxsaBFeSS pic.twitter.com/zy74egXBPs
— PWHL Minnesota (@PWHL_Minnesota) May 14, 2024
Campbell hasn’t made mistakes like that often over the last few months — and she will certainly want that one back — so Minnesota can’t rely on getting gifts like that often. The first goal, though — with traffic in front of the net, and a quality shot from the point — was a better indicator of what Minnesota will need to do to beat Campbell again in another potential elimination game on Wednesday.
Maddie Rooney stands tall
I wondered if Ken Klee would stick with Rooney after her excellent start in Game 2 on Friday night in Toronto. She kept Toronto off the scoresheet until the final 90 seconds of the game and stopped 28 of 29 shots she faced.
It should have been a no-brainer — Rooney simply looked sharper than Nicole Hensley in her start. But it’s always somewhat controversial when you don’t play your No. 1 in a must-win game.
Klee, of course, played the hot hand and it paid off with Rooney’s shutout. At her best, Rooney is a big game player — remember the 2018 Olympic gold medal game? And since getting tapped in the playoffs for Minnesota, she has made 46 saves on 47 shots to keep the season alive.
It’s also worth mentioning the work of top defenders Lee Stecklein and Sophie Jaques in tonight’s game. Jaques had three shots on goal in around 25 minutes of ice time, and Stecklein did well to shut Toronto’s offense down with her long reach and great gap control
Toronto’s bad start
In a potential series-clinching game, Toronto came out of the gates flat against a desperate Minnesota team.
Toronto typically generates offense down low after getting pucks behind opposing blue lines, winning the battle and getting into scoring position. But Minnesota did well to win those battles and not let Toronto get many opportunities. It took until midway through the first period for Toronto to even register a shot on goal.
When asked if there were any major adjustments that gave Toronto trouble, captain Blayre Turnbull said “it’s all on us,” during an intermission interview.
“This is the hardest game to win,” she said. “When the team is on the brink of elimination.”
Toronto’s finish might have been even worse: Spooner left the game after taking a hit along the boards on the penalty kill. She did not return.
Natalie Spooner went to the locker room after this pic.twitter.com/DP70rQbVy4
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) May 14, 2024
Spooner finished the regular season with 20 goals and 27 points in 24 games to win the league’s points and goals titles. She has scored one goal and two points in the playoffs for Toronto. If she doesn’t return to the series, it would be a huge loss for Toronto.
(Photo: David Berding / Getty Images)
