On a day when many St. Patrick’s Day celebrations were in full swing, a lot of green was worn, including PWHL Minnesota head coach Ken Klee’s green tie. PWHL Minnesota was home in St. Paul to take on PWHL New York on Saturday, March 16, a much cooler day than when they last played earlier in the week. PWHL Minnesota was coming off a win over PWHL Boston, while PWHL New York was coming off a 3-2 loss to PWHL Boston, too.
PWHL Minnesota got the jump in shots right away, as they typically do, and they were rewarded towards the halfway mark of the first. They scored back-to-back goals a minute and three seconds apart to take a commanding two-goal lead. They held it through the rest of the first and looked to add to it in the second.
They added a third goal near the halfway point of the second and took control of the game until late in the period. PWHL New York erased Maddie Rooney’s shutout on a power play goal with just a couple of minutes left in the second to climb back within two goals. However, that’s when PWHL Minnesota put the pedal to the medal and added two more goals to take the win 5-1. Their top line led the way again, and that’s where we’ll start.
PWHL Minnesota Has Contributions From All Over the Roster
The top line of Michela Cava, Kendall Coyne Schofield, and Taylor Heise has been on fire since being matched together, and that continued against PWHL New York. Cava scored in her second consecutive game, giving her team the lead. That line is electric on the ice and always seems to have big chances to score.
However, they weren’t the only line to contribute a goal. The second line also got in on the action, with the team’s leading scorer, Grace Zumwinkle, tallying her ninth goal of the season to extend her team’s lead to two. Not to feel left out, the third line also added their own goal, with Claire Butorac sneaking one in.
The top line continued to be a powerhouse, adding two more goals in the third to take a 5-1 lead. Cava scored her second of the game on a nice set-up pass by Heise, and seconds later, their linemate Coyne Schofield scored one of her own. It was a team effort, and that was needed to get past PWHL New York.
Head coach Ken Klee talked about everyone contributing and its importance in the post-game press conference, “We have a lot of different players on different days contributing, and it’s a lot of fun, and they’re all super happy for each other like Claire Butorac getting her first goal, Michela Cava you know two great goals tonight. I mean, she got kind of going last game, and I just think it was Denisa (Křížová) the game before that, so I think it’s for me it’s the level of excitement that the players have for each other when they’re doing well, and making plays, and having success and to me that’s what a great team’s about.”
Special Teams Struggle
It looked like PWHL Minnesota had turned a corner with their power play struggles after scoring in two out of their past five games. That doesn’t sound like great odds, but for a team that’s had as much trouble as they have despite the high number of shots, it’s better than it could’ve been. However, it didn’t last, as they were back to struggling against PWHL New York. They had plenty of chances but couldn’t get past the goaltender despite having three chances, but five-on-five, they scored.
Their penalty kill also had some difficulty, as they allowed one goal out of three opportunities. They had good form and kept everyone to the outside, but a shot squeaked through and took away the shutout. Even with their troubles, they have a great work ethic, which will benefit them soon enough.
“We had a lot of looks, we had a ton of pucks that just seemed to hit them and go, we’re going to keep firing the puck. We’re moving the puck well now, we’ve got some rhythm, now it’s just about getting pucks through. We’re still sometimes looking for one more extra pass that maybe we don’t need, but they’ve got the green light. I want us shooting, I want us on attack mode and that’s what we’re looking to do,” Klee said after the game about what he thought of their special teams.
Maddie Rooney Protects Lead
While PWHL Minnesota put a lot of goals on the board, their goaltender Rooney stood tall and protected their lead several times throughout the game. Her defense was strong before her, and everything seemed to be clicking, except the special teams. Her glove hand was very strong, and she made several quick glove saves to keep PWHL New York out of it.
“The defense is playing great, I mean, tonight, I feel like they kept a lot of the shots to the outside, and when the rebound was there, they did a great job of clearing it, and also, just I thought we were breaking out easier tonight than the previous couple games, the defense has a big contribution to that,” Rooney said when asked about the strong defense in the post-game press conference.
Other than the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, it was also goaltender appreciation night. Several PWHL Minnesota players wore their goaltenders’ jerseys for their walk-ins, and the intermission games were all goaltenders. Rooney was asked about it after the game. “So the players wore our jerseys in for the walk-in photos, so that was cool. I mean, I’ve never been part of a goalie appreciation night, so it was cool,” said Rooney with all smiles.
PWHL Minnesota’s Next Opponent
PWHL Minnesota will hit another odd time in their schedule and have a week off between games. They’ll practice, of course, but their next game isn’t until Sunday, March 24, against PWHL Montréal. It’ll be a big match-up that could determine who sits in first place afterward. PWHL Minnesota currently has it, but PWHL Montréal will play one more game before meeting with PWHL Minnesota.
Related: 3 Items PWHL Minnesota Can Improve on for the Postseason
They’ll have to bring everything they have, as PWHL Montréal has had the upper hand recently. PWHL Minnesota will definitely need to have their power play working, take as many shots as possible, and watch out for the big scorers of Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacy, Maureen Murphy, Tereza Vanišová, and Erin Ambrose. However, their trouble is getting past either Elaine Chuli or Ann-Renée Desbiens in net.
Hopefully, PWHL Minnesota can keep their streak alive when they take on PWHL Montréal, as that’ll also help their postseason results. It’ll be interesting to see these two teams meet, as the last time was a 2-1 loss for PWHL Minnesota about a month ago, and they’ll be looking to redeem themselves.
