A closer look at the PWHL’s inaugural playoff matchups

The inaugural PWHL season has wrapped up in dramatic fashion. 

PWHL Ottawa was in the running for the final playoff position until the very last game of the season on May 5, which saw Ottawa fall 5-2 to PWHL Toronto, eliminating them from contention and allowing PWHL Minnesota to clinch the final playoff spot.

Thanks to the PWHL’s unique playoff format, Toronto had the opportunity to choose Minnesota as their first-round opponent in the league’s inaugural playoffs. 

This pins the second-seeded Montreal against the third-seed Boston. 

These first two playoff series will determine which two teams have the opportunity to be the first-ever winners of the Walter Cup as they face off in the PWHL’s first ever championship final. 

PWHL Toronto (1) vs. PWHL Minnesota (4)

Minnesota came out of the gates incredibly strong this season, winning four of their first five games. However, they barely held onto the last playoff spot with a rough final stretch of the season which ended in a five-game losing skid.

In comparison, Toronto only won two of their first seven before hitting their stride with an unbelievable 11-game win streak, spanning from Jan. 26 until March 23, when they finally lost to PWHL Ottawa. 

Almost as unbelievable, Toronto has given up only two games since their Jan. 23 loss that preceded their dominant 11-game win streak. 

Although Toronto is the likely favourite in this matchup, Minnesota by no means a pushover.

Toronto’s X-factors

Toronto head coach Troy Ryan unlocked his squad’s high-flying potential as the season heated up. By the end of the season, Toronto had three players in the top 10 in league scoring. 

Forward Natalie Spooner led the league in goals with 20 and in points with 27. Sarah Nurse was close behind, tied for second in both goals and points, with 11 and 23, respectively. 

Forward Emma Maltais was eighth in league scoring with five goals and 19 points on the season.

Toronto has plenty of offensive starpower to call on this postseason, making them a heavy favourite in this series.

In net, Toronto goaltender Kristen Campbell put up 16 wins with a dominant .927 save percentage through 22 games played and a league-leading 3 shutouts. 

Campbell played the second-most minutes, behind only PWHL Ottawa netminder Emerance Maschmeyer. Toronto will rely heavily on Campbell between the pipes in the playoffs.

Minnesota’s X-factors

Minnesota’s scoring slowed down after a hot start this season. Forward Grace Zumwinkle led the scoring race early on in the season after scoring a hat trick in the team’s second game against Montreal on Jan. 6. 

After the regular season, Zumwinkle sits tied with Nurse for second in scoring with 11 to comprise most of her 19 points, good for seventh in the PWHL. 

In comparison, first overall pick in the league’s inaugural draft, forward Taylor Heise’s scoring dropped off significantly as the season went on, despite bolstering her strong two-way game. 

Alongside veteran forward Kendall Coyne Schofield, Heise will need to step up as an X-factor in Minnesota’s playoff run.

Minnesota is one of the only teams starting a true tandem in net, splitting the season between Nicole Hensley, who appeared in 14 games, and Maddie Rooney, who appeared in 10 games. 

Hensley put up a slightly superior .919 save percentage to Rooney’s .915 save percentage. If they choose to continue with a tandem strategy, Minnesota might have a back-line advantage in the exhausting environment of playoff hockey.

PWHL Montreal (2) vs. PWHL Boston (3)

Despite holding the lowest playoff seed, Boston spent a significant portion of the season outside of a playoff spot. 

It was only after PWHL Ottawa’s three-game losing streak to wrap up the season that Boston secured a playoff position. 

At the same time, Montreal has held steady throughout the season to finish second in the standings. With their season series tied at two wins each, it’s anybody’s guess which of these two teams will punch their ticket to the final.

Montreal’s X-factors

Alongside the PWHL’s second-highest scoring blue-liner in Erin Ambrose, Montreal boasts hockey’s highest-scoring couple, Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey. 

Poulin put up a whopping 10 goals and 23 points through 21 games this season, while Stacey also notched 10 goals while scoring 18 points in 23 games. 

Whether their May 2023 engagement has any effect on line chemistry is irrelevant for a Boston defence which might soon find themselves crushed under the power of this couple.

Between the pipes for Montreal is longtime Canadian starting netminder Ann-Renée Desbiens. On top of her confident .923 save percentage through 16 appearances in the PWHL this season, Desbiens’ international career has yielded three World Championship gold medals and an Olympic gold at Beijing 2022.

Boston’s X-factors

With the young Swiss-born Alina Müller leading the team with 16 points on the season, Boston may seem a step behind Montreal offensively. 

But under the captaincy of forward Hilary Knight, who has the most World Championship gold medals out of any women’s hockey player ever, Boston will always be a threat. 

Knight has nine world championship gold medals with Team USA — two more than Canadian women’s hockey legend Hayley Wickenheiser, the most decorated women’s hockey player of all time.

With Aerin Frankel in the crease for Boston, this series promises to be a fierce rematch between the starting goalies of the USA national team and the Canadian national team’s starting goaltenders. 

As a USA national team starter and 2023 World Championship gold medalist, Frankel willed PWHL Boston into the postseason with a stellar .929 save percentage.

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Featured image by Jean Pierre Robert/PWHL