Wednesday, May 14, 2025 | 6:00 p.m. CT | Xcel Energy Center
WATCH LIVE: Prime Video (Canada), FanDuel Sports Network North, PWHL YouTube & thepwhl.com (U.S. / International), more below.
Daniella Ponticelli (Play-by-Play), Becky Kellar (Analyst), Rob Pizzo (Reporter)
TORONTO SCEPTRES (2)
Top Scorers: Turnbull (2-1-3) & Flanagan (1-2-3)
Goalie: Kristen Campbell, 1-2, 4.75 GAA, .813 SV%
Series Stats: PP 2/6 (33.3%) PK 4/9 (44.4%)
MINNESOTA FROST (4)
Top Scorer: Lee Stecklein – 3 GP, 3-3-6 PTS
Goalie: Maddie Rooney, 2-0, 4.00 GAA, .849 SV%
Series Stats: PP 5/9 (55.6%) PK 4/6 (66.7%)
2025 PWHL PLAYOFFS: MINNESOTA LEADS BEST-OF-FIVE SERIES 2-1
Game 1 at TOR: 3-2 TOR | Game 2 at TOR: 5-3 MIN | Game 3 at MIN: 7-5 MIN | Game 4 - May 14 at MIN | Game 5 - May 17 at TOR
2024-25 SEASON SERIES: MINNESOTA WON 11-7 IN POINTS (TORONTO WON 8-4 IN 2024)
Dec. 7 at TOR: 6-3 MIN | Jan. 28 at MIN: 4-3 MIN (SO) | Feb. 11 at TOR: 3-2 TOR (OT) | Feb. 23 at MIN: 2-1 TOR | Mar. 9 at TOR: 2-1 MIN (OT) | Mar. 30 at MIN: 5-2 MIN
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
With Minnesota and Ottawa both holding 2-1 series leads, lower-seeded teams are now 13-6 all-time in the PWHL playoffs. Boston was the only team to clinch a series at home last season, doing so with its three-game sweep of Montréal.
Toronto is facing elimination for the second time in their playoff history. The first was at home in Game 5 of last season’s semifinal, won 4-1 by Minnesota. Last season, Minnesota went 4-0 when facing playoff elimination, winning three straight games against Toronto (2-0, 1-0, 4-1) and beating Boston 3-0 in Game 5 to win the Walter Cup.
The Sceptres became the first PWHL team to score at least five goals and lose. Prior to Game 3, PWHL teams were 25-1-0-0 all-time when scoring at least five goals, including a 4-0-0-0 mark by Toronto.
Blayre Turnbull scored for Toronto in Game 3, her second goal of this postseason. She now has four goals in eight career playoff games, an average of one every two games. The captain has eight goals in 54 career regular-season games, an average of one every 6.8 games.
Daryl Watts notched her first career playoff points on Sunday with a goal and assist and was one of four Sceptres with a multi-point game. The team’s top regular season scorer, who turns 26 tomorrow, tied for first in the PWHL with eight multi-point games.
Kali Flanagan (1G, 2A), Emma Maltais (3A), Maggie Connors (1G, 1A) and Savannah Harmon (1G, 1A) have points in two straight games for the Sceptres.
Anna Kjellbin became the fourth player in PWHL history to score her first career goal in a playoff game when the defender found the back of the net on Sunday. Three players scored their milestone marker in last year’s postseason, including Minnesota’s Liz Schepers who tallied the winning goal in Game 5 of the PWHL Finals.
The Frost’s 7-5 win in Game 3 set a PWHL record for total goals in a game, regular season or postseason. The last time a Minnesota NHL team scored seven goals in a home playoff game was on May 6, 1991, when the North Stars beat the Oilers 7-3 in Game 3 of the Campbell Conference Final.
Both of Minnesota’s Game 4 results in the 2024 PWHL Playoffs were 1-0 double-overtime decisions on home ice. In the semifinals, Claire Butorac scored the winner for Minnesota at 84:27 to beat Toronto, then in the finals, Alina Müller won it for Boston at 98:36. Both featured longer stretches of scoreless play than the record quadruple-overtime game on Sunday between Montréal and Ottawa that went 76:15 between goals.
Brooke McQuigge and Michela Cava each scored a pair of goals in Game 3. It was the fourth time this season that the Frost had two players with multiple goals. The other five PWHL teams have combined for four such games, with no team having more than one.
Taylor Heise had three assists in Game 3, the first three-assist performance in PWHL playoff history. Heise has five assists in two games and seven career multi-assist games (including postseason), tied with Renata Fast for the most in PWHL history. No other player has more than five such games.
Lee Stecklein, the PWHL’s First Star of the Week, has a five-game point streak (6G, 3A) which includes all three games of the series (3G, 3A). She’s one of nine defenders to combine for 12 goals and 16 to combine for 34 points in six total playoff games. Last season’s playoffs had just four goals and 33 points by defenders across 13 playoff games.
Frost Head Coach Ken Klee made his way to Waterloo, IA, to watch his son David “Bug” Klee and his Muskegon team beat the Waterloo Blackhawks 4-1 Saturday night in game two of the USHL’s Clark Cup Finals. The younger Klee – who had an assist in the win - is committed to the University of North Dakota and was drafted by the San Jose Sharks in 2023.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
“It’s do or die and everyone knows what’s at stake. This is probably the most confident our team has felt throughout the season, so there’s a lot that we can build off of on our last three playoff games and a lot we can learn from too, so I think we are combining both of those things and putting our best foot forward. Everyone understands what’s at stake.” - Sceptres captain Blayre Turnbull.
“We did what we had to do to win game three and we expect a very competitive game tonight. Toronto is a talented team and obviously motivated to bring their ‘A’ game. We need to be sharp and are looking forward to the support from our fans on our home Ice!” - Frost Head Coach Ken Klee.
WEDNESDAY’S GAME: It’s Game 4 of the PWHL Playoffs, presented by SharkNinja, at Xcel Energy Center. Fans will have opportunities to appear on the scoreboard screen as part of the game presentation. During the first period they’ll see the Great Clips ‘Hair Confidence Cam’ and e.l.f. ‘Dance Cam’. The second period will feature the Woody Creek Distillers ‘Fan Cam’ and TRIA ‘Flex Cam’, while third period highlights include the Air Canada ‘Sign Spotlight’ and Bread Financial ‘Fan of the Game’. Keep an eye out for a game code giveaway, courtesy of EA Sports.
In addition to broadcast coverage exclusively on Prime Video (Canada), tonight’s game will be available to fans in the U.S. on FanDuel Sports Network North, FanDuel Sports Network SoCal, FanDuel Sports Network Southwest, and on various stations distributed in partnership with Gray Media (Peachtree Sports Network, Tennessee Valley Sports & Entertainment Network, The Wax Sports), Scripps Sports (Fort Myers, West Palm Beach, Salt Lake City, Denver, Twin Falls, Boise), the Sinclair Broadcast Group (Seattle), and on YouTube. Internationally, the game will be distributed by NOVA Prime in Czechia and Slovakia.