The Minnesota Frost went on the road for a quick one-game road trip on Friday night, Jan. 16, when they faced the New York Sirens. According to the FanDuel Sports Network broadcast, they were without Maddie Rooney and Lee Stecklein due to illness. They were also without Dominique Petrie and will be for the rest of the season, as it was announced earlier in the week that her recent lower-body injury ended her season early.
Nicole Hensley was back in the net after also dealing with an illness. The game started out in favor of the Frost, but the Sirens answered back and tied the game twice. They went into the third period tied 2-2, and that’s how regulation ended. They went into overtime, and the Frost got the game-winner thanks to Taylor Heise and Kendall Coyne-Schofield 52 seconds into the extra session. In this article, we’ll look at a few takeaways, starting with their power play.
Frost’s Special Teams
The Frost did pull out the win, but they could’ve used some help from their power play units. They only had two power play chances, but they didn’t convert on either, and they allowed the Sirens to score a shorthanded, jailbreak goal that got their player out of the penalty box. That could’ve been a pivotal moment in the game for the Sirens to try and get ahead, but luckily for the Frost, they put a stop to it.
The Frost’s power play still sits second in the league, and they do have six goals on the power play so far this season, which is a strong number, but for the number of chances they’ve had, it feels like it should be higher. They did have strong chances against the Sirens, but couldn’t get it to go in.
However, while their power play was silent, their penalty kill stepped up and killed off both penalties they took. After the first period was over, they stayed disciplined and out of the penalty box, although they did have some close calls. They’ll have to be careful going forward.
Frost Find Even Match
It was pretty clear from the start that neither one of these teams was going to be dominant over the other. While the Frost got the first goal of the game and was hoping to set the Sirens back on their heels, the Sirens stormed back and tied it. The same thing happened a second time in the second period, but in the third, they really showed how close they are in skills, as neither team could get the puck in.
Even the goaltending was pretty close, they both made the big saves, and they both had goals they’d likely want back. Both teams took two penalties each, and even the shots on goal were even at the end, with 26 apiece. The Sirens had the Frost’s number last season, but the Frost have started this season off with the first win.
“I think both team’s had really good sticks, both teams caused a lot of turnovers, as for me, we had an unusual high amount of turnovers which a lot of it was because they were tracking well, they had good sticks, so we had a hard time I feel like getting some of our offensive flow going because we were turning the puck over and then having to defend after because they’re a counter team like us but the first two periods were definitely different than the third, the third it just kind of balanced itself out…,” said head coach Ken Klee about the overall eveness between the two teams.
Frost’s Leaders Win it
Britta Curl-Salemme got things going for the Frost with the first goal of the night courtesy of Taylor Heise. Then their captain, Kendall Coyne-Schofield, helped get them their second lead of the game as she assisted on Kelly Pannek’s goal. When that wasn’t quite enough to get them the win, she stepped up to get the winner in overtime.
While Coyne-Schofield got the winner, Heise had quite the game as well. She assisted on the first and third goals of the game and was the reason they had a chance to score them. She hasn’t been super productive in the goals department, but she’s been the star of the team in terms of assists.
Related: 3 Takeaways From the Frost’s 6-2 Win Over the Torrent
“I think her game speaks for itself, right? Just obviously a highly skilled, talented player that makes an impact night in and night out and that whether she’s scoring goals in overtime or making elite plays in overtime or 5-on-5 obviously she had a great forecheck today and that led to Britta’s (Curl-Salemme) goal, our first goal but she’s a dynamic player night in and night out so to hear that stat, that doesn’t surprise me,” said Coyne-Schofield when asked about Heise’s play and leading in assists.
The Frost came out with the win in their first of five meetings this season. It’ll be interesting to see how the rest of the season goes as these teams learn each other’s tendencies. They are already so evenly matched, it’s likely these games will continue to be close, and it’ll be fun to see who comes out on top.
