Bad Night for Goaltenders, Great Night for Goals in Frost Game 3 Semifinal Victory

The Minnesota Frost returned to home ice on May 11 with their PWHL playoff series against the Toronto Sceptres tied. With a packed lower bowl at Xcel Energy Center, the Frost found themselves on the winning side of the highest scoring game in PWHL history as they defeated Toronto, 7-5. The high-scoring affair included markers from 21 players and 11 multi-point scorers.

The Frost had a dream start to Game 3, scoring three goals just five minutes into the first period before the Sceptres could even register a shot on net. Forward Liz Schepers started the scoring frenzy at 2:33 off of a quick breakaway goal that beat Kristen Campbell low glove side. Just over four minutes later, Brooke McQuigge scored her first career PWHL Playoff goal to double the Frost's lead.

Folks, we need to have a conversation about how good Lee Stecklein has been lately. The veteran defender made it 3-0 for the home team with her sixth goal in her last five games.

Yes, you're reading that right.

Stecklein's goal - Minnesota's third on just five shots - added to Campbell's rough start. After a timeout call from Troy Ryan, the Sceptres netminder seemed to have settled in a bit.

Daryl Watts introduced herself to the playoff goal column late in the first period as she buried Toronto's first of the game behind Maddie Rooney to bring some life into her team. As the first period came to a close, the Frost still seemed to have control over the game thanks to their fast start.

“We came off a long trip – it's no secret – so we wanted to make sure we came out right and started the right way. We got the crowd into it early and little did we know it was going to start off with all these goals, but it was definitely great to get off to a good start early,” Frost forward Schepers told the media post game.

Less than four minutes into the second period the Sceptres scored their second goal on just their fourth shot of the night. A seeing-eye shot from Maggie Connors injected some energy back into Toronto as they were within one.

After some chances for the Sceptres to even the score, the Frost went back to their scoring ways and this is where the game got extra goofy. After Megan Carter went to the box for her second penalty of the game, McQuigge scored her second of the night continuing Campbell's tough game. At the 17:35 mark of the second period, the Frost got another goal from their blue line as Sophie Jaques scored her second of the playoffs. Just 22 seconds later the Sceptres made it interesting as Kali Flanagan cut the deficit to two before the end of the second.

The goal scoring party continued on both ends as the third period began. Anna Kjellbin scored her first career PWHL goal that brought Toronto back within one but just like they had done all game long, Minnesota quickly answered with two goals in a two-minute span, both from Michela Cava.

Toronto would continue fighting as their captain Blayre Turnbull scored her second of the playoffs with eight minutes remaining. Turnbull's goal was the final goal of the night as Minnesota would hold on to win this one 7-5.

Rooney picked up her second straight win for the Frost, stopping 18 of 23 shots, while Campbell recorded her second straight loss, saving 17 of 24 shots for Toronto. During his post game availability, Sceptres head coach Troy Ryan talked about his team's ability to never be out of game and what was a difficult hole to climb out of in Game 3's loss.

"You get down that early, you’re chasing the game. Minnesota’s a great team so if you’re putting yourself in a situation where you’ve got to chase them, it’s an uphill battle. I thought also throughout the game we got ourselves into a bit of penalty trouble, so you're getting momentum and then you’re looking for a big play and then if we take a penalty, it takes away a bit of the momentum that we have as we’re trying to climb back into the game.” 

This game was full of crazy stats and lots of firsts in the league. Taylor Heise became the first player in PWHL history to record three assists in a playoff game. With her goal and assist in Game 3, Stecklein extended her point streak to five games (6G, 3A) including six points (3G, 3A) in this series.

This was also the first time Toronto scored five goals in a single game this season. They were the only team in the PWHL during the regular season that did not score five or more goals in a single game.

The defending Walter Cup Champions have control of the series with the chance to eliminate the Sceptres on home ice at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center. You can find the game on Prime Video in Canada, FanDuel Sports Network North in the Minnesota market, and the PWHL YouTube channel and thepwhl.com elsewhere.