After a big come-from-behind win on the road, PWHL Minnesota was back at home on Wednesday, Jan. 24, to take on PWHL Montréal for the second time this season in front of a crowd of just over 5,000. Their first meeting was also at home, and they came out with a 3-0 win. They started with some great chances, but Montréal got the early lead just minutes into the first.
Minnesota had some great chances, but Montréal held tight and took the 1-0 lead into the second period. In the second, both teams continued to have chances, with Minnesota controlling most of the play, but couldn’t convert until late in the period to tie things at one apiece. The third remained tied until again late in the period when Montréal stole the lead 2-1, but Minnesota kept trying and forced some penalties for power play chances.
They had some great opportunities at the end to tie things up again but couldn’t convert and lost 2-1, but they did keep Montreal’s star Marie-Philip Poulin off the scoreboard. It was their first loss in regulation, and they nearly had a comeback for the second straight game, which is where we’ll start.
Minnesota Almost Finished Comeback
Despite having the upper hand for most of the game, especially regarding shots on goal, Minnesota struggled to get anything past Montréal’s goaltender. Just like their male counterparts in the NHL, they ended up down early and had to fight all game to get on the scoreboard. They took shot after shot and finally broke through later in the second when Michela Cava found a rebound and sent it home for her first of the season.
They had the momentum going into the third, and they let that carry them with more strong shots. They pushed and pushed until late in the third when Montréal jumped on a loose puck and snuck it past Nicole Hensley, who did her best all night. Montréal was able to convert where Minnesota wasn’t despite, again, having a lot more chances. They did struggle with some turnovers that nearly cost them and they weren’t able to capitalize when Montréal would turn it over. Hopefully, they can fix those issues before their next game.
Minnesota’s Special Teams Tested
While Minnesota’s power play had a number of chances, they struggled to convert on any of their opportunities. They had five chances, with the third being short-lived after they took a penalty during the power play, which, luckily, they killed off. However, where their power play struggled, their penalty kill stayed strong. They had to kill off two penalties the whole night, but they made sure they blocked shots and helped their goaltender each time. They stayed disciplined and didn’t get overly aggressive until they were back at even strength.
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They were 100 percent on the penalty kill, but Minnesota’s power play has been troublesome throughout the season, and during their postgame press conference, captain Kendall Coyne Schofield elaborated on how they could improve, “I think it’s shoot more, connecting more, being hungrier down low, you get a puck down low you take it to the house, and it doesn’t go in but that second chance and that third chance. If there’s a point shot, it’s retrieving the puck and starting over. So I think there’s a lot of examples of how to make the power play go and tomorrow’s a day off for us, we’ll look at the film and learn from it. That’s the beauty of making mistakes you get to learn from it.”
Minnesota Dominated Shots
Typically, in a loss, the losing team lacks in the shot department, but that wasn’t true for Minnesota; they had 46 shots compared to Montréal’s 26. They never stopped shooting, but Montréal’s goaltender Elaine Chuli did everything she could to stop every chance, and she did enough to get them the win. Minnesota has to figure out a way to start finishing their chances, especially when taking that many shots, and head coach Ken Klee also discussed that in the postgame presser.
“I thought we played a lot better than we did the first time, to be honest with you, I liked a lot of the things we did, we were on them, we were hustling,” Klee said. “You put up 40 some shots like I said, I can’t complain with our effort, our attitude, our go. I just need some people to relax a little bit, and take a breath and freaking bury it.”
Minnesota’s Next Opponent
Minnesota’s visit home was short-lived with just one game, and now it’s back on the road, this time to Boston to face PWHL Boston on Saturday, Jan 27. If they can have the same effort they did in this loss and put the puck on net that many times, they’ll give Boston a hard time and hopefully come home with a win to bounce back after this difficult loss.