Highlights and Press Conferences available on Minnesota and Seattle YouTube channels
SEATTLE, WA (April 22, 2026) – With crucial ‘draft order’ points on the line for the Seattle Torrent, against a Minnesota Frost team with their third-place playoff position wrapped up, the 11,982 fans at Climate Pledge Arena enjoyed a back-and-forth offensive outburst between the two clubs, with the Torrent coming out on top 5-4 for their first-ever win against the Frost. Five different goal scorers and 10 different players reached the scoresheet for Seattle in the team’s third five-goal performance in their last four games. The high-tempo offense from both clubs produced several record-book highlights, led by Kelly Pannek’s goal and two assists to bring Minnesota’s alternate captain to 32 points on the season; the first player in PWHL history to hit, and exceed 30. Meanwhile, Taylor Heise opened scoring and recorded a game-tying goal in the second frame to reach 30 points this season and 65 for her career, one away from Montréal captain Marie-Philip Poulin’s league-high benchmark. Seattle’s Alex Carpenter tied the game in the second period with her 30th career goal, becoming just the third skater in league history to reach that mark.
Anna Wilgren led the Seattle offense with her first-ever three point night, including the third period insurance marker that proved to be the game winner. Captain Hilary Knight also found the back of the net in the third period, while defender Aneta Tejralová and forward Gabrielle David also scored for the Torrent, and Grace Zumwinkle had a single for the Frost. Minnesota pushed late with an empty net and extra attacker, creating chaos in front of the net for Pannek to tap in a goal with 15 seconds remaining, but it wasn’t enough to push the Frost even. Nicole Hensley surrendered five goals on 28 shots, while rookie Hannah Murphy faced her second 40+ shot outing against the Frost, stopping 38/42.
Minnesota will look to continue sharpening in preparation to defend their Walter Cup titles, visiting a hungry Vancouver Goldeneyes looking for ‘draft order’ points in the penultimate PWHL regular season game, while Seattle hosts Montréal on Saturday in the regular season finale. The two games will determine who will secure the first overall pick in the 2026 PWHL Draft; the Torrent currently have four ‘draft order’ points to Vancouver’s three.
QUOTES
Torrent Head Coach Steve O’Rourke on the team’s recent goal production: “We’ve worked a lot on the offensive side. We spent a lot of time during the Olympic break on that, a lot of work around the net, and for our defense, not just shooting but [shooting] with purpose and moving around the zone and players getting to the net. The goalies in this league are exceptional down low, so you have to get it to the side, you have to get it up, and I think that’s what we’ve done the last little bit, put it in from different angles and it’s producing different rebounds for us.”
Seattle forward Lily Delianedis on playing for ‘draft order’ points in the Gold Plan: “It’s really important because it’s a big deal for Seattle’s future, and for our pride too, as a team. That’s a big piece that goes into wanting to win. It’s for the people on the team and Seattle as a community, too. There’s a lot on the line with the last couple of games and a lot to play for.”
Frost Head Coach Ken Klee on the team’s overall performance and game result: “It gave us the opportunity to work on our six-on-five a little bit and had two groups get a few shifts out of it. For us, we’re all just about building right now – about trying to do little things well – and obviously we got a little bit loose with our game, and I thought we had a good push. It was a good hockey game. Obviously, they’re pushing to try to score goals and trying to do well also.”
Frost forward Taylor Heise on expectations going into playoffs: “I think regardless of if we get down 0-2 – I was just talking to people about the NBA – there’s a lot of statistics of when you get down 0-2 in those big games, rarely do people come back, and the Frost have proven that we can. I think all in all, you go into those games wanting to win, but you also want to come out with something you can learn from the next game…Going into playoffs, it’s the confidence, it’s having your teammates’ backs, and just going there and relentlessly playing. Playoffs is amazing. It is phenomenal in the PWHL, and we’re just really excited, especially to have at least one home game and getting our fans in.”
NOTABLES
Seattle has scored five goals three times in their last four games, including consecutive games at Climate Pledge Arena, representing nearly a quarter of the 62 goals they have scored across all 29 games this season.
Minnesota wins the season series 9-3 in points, outscoring Seattle 17-8 in four games. With tonight’s result, the Torrent have earned at least two points against every team in their inaugural season.
The Frost have lost three straight games in regulation for the first time this season.
Seattle earned their fifth win in one-goal games, tied with Minnesota for fewest in the PWHL, with both teams playing in their league-low 12th one-goal decision.
The Frost scored their ninth goal in the first five minutes of a game, second-most in the PWHL, while the Torrent conceded a goal in the first five minutes of a game for the 10th time, most in the PWHL.
The Torrent tied a PWHL record for the fastest two goals with their second-period pair in a span of 11 seconds. The mark matches the Goldeneyes who achieved the feat on Jan. 22 against the Sceptres.
Seattle has earned six of their eight regulation wins when allowing the game’s first goal and have won five of nine games when tied after two periods. Minnesota suffered their second regulation loss in 18 games when scoring first, and their second loss in six games when tied after two periods.
Both teams went 1-for-2 on the power-play, with the Frost improving their league-leading efficiency to 22.9% with the player advantage, while the Torrent power-play ranks fourth at 15.2%.
Anna Wilgren recorded her first career three-point game with a goal and two assists. Tonight’s performance moved the second-year defender to 10 points (3G, 7A) on the campaign and new career best, surpassing the nine (3G, 6A) she produced in Montréal last season. The result comes on the heels of Wilgren’s first-ever multi-point output last game when she scored two goals against Vancouver.
Kelly Pannek became the first player in PWHL history to record 30 points in a season and finished the night with 32 points with her goal and two assists. Of her eight multi-point games this season, tonight was her first three-point effort, four games after a four-point night on Apr. 4 against Vancouver. The Frost alternate captain led tonight’s game with 18 faceoff wins and finished the season series with seven points (3G, 4A). She heads into the final game of the season atop the leaderboard in points (32), goals (15), and a share of the lead in assists (17).
Taylor Heise recorded her first multi-goal game of the season with a career-high eight shots on goal to lead all skaters tonight. Her 13 goals in 29 games includes four against the Torrent and brings her career total to 25, exceeding the 12 she scored in her first 48 games across the league’s first two seasons. Heise became the second player to reach 30 points, trailing Pannek by two in the scoring race, and her 65 career points is one behind Poulin for the all-time lead.
Alex Carpenter’s goal brought her to 11 on the season, matching her career high set in New York last season, while bringing her to 30 career goals in 79 regular season games and becoming just the third skater in PWHL history to reach that mark, behind Marie-Philip Poulin (38G in 69GP) and Daryl Watts (32G in 79GP). The game was the Torrent alternate captain’s fifth multi-point performance of the season, while snapping a four-game scoring drought – the longest of her career.
Hilary Knight has goals in back-to-back games for the first time this season and her first two-game point streak in 2026, with her last consecutive stretch coming from Dec. 23-28 (2A). It’s the second time Seattle’s captain has combined with her former Fleet teammate, Theresa Schafzahl, since the Austrian was traded to the Torrent. With one game remaining on the campaign, the American captain is up to 14 points (5G, 9A) in 21 games, surpassing the 11 (6G, 5A) she recorded across 24 games during the inaugural season in Boston.
Aneta Tejralová has points in consecutive games for the second time this season, after being left of the scoresheet in her previous three. The Czech Olympic captain scored her first power-play goal of the season to bring her season points total to eight in 22 games, placing her second among Torrent blue liners.
Gabrielle David scored her first goal as a member of the Torrent, and second point, coming in her eighth game of the season. The Drummondville, QC native last scored a PWHL goal on Mar. 6, 2024, as a member of Montréal, having joined Seattle on Mar. 22 following a season in the SDHL.
Grace Zumwinkle scored for the fourth time in four games against Seattle, tied with Heise for the series lead in goals, and stayed hot with her fourth goal and seventh point in five games. Her 13 tallies are tied for third in the goal scoring race and her 22 points are tied for seventh leaguewide.
Schafzahl recorded her seventh and eighth points (2G, 6A) in 10 games with the Torrent, surpassing the six (2G, 4A) she scored in 19 games with the Fleet to start the season. With one game remaining in the season, her 14 points (4G, 9A) across both teams has more than doubled her previous career high of six (3G, 3A) in 20 games during her inaugural season on Boston.
Lee Stecklein has recorded nine of her season’s 14 points in her last seven games with tonight’s two assists. The Frost alternate captain became the seventh defender in league history to produce 25 career assists and cross the 30-point threshold (31) in her 81st game.
Hannah Murphy started the 12th game of her first PWHL season, the second-most for a rookie in PWHL history behind Gwyneth Philips’ 15 games for Ottawa last season and earned her first win since the three straight that launched her career. The Canadian netminder has faced more than 40 shots on goal three times this season, with tonight’s 42 behind the 45 she faced on Jan. 11 against Minnesota. Her 371 shots against and 337 saves on the season are more than any other rookie goaltender in league history (Philips 316 SVS/344 SA in 2024-25).
Julia Gosling became the 15th PWHL player to reach 20 points this season. Her 14th assist of the campaign also brought the second-year forward to 30 career points across 59 games. Gosling has points in back-to-back games (2A) for the first time since Feb. 27-Mar. 4 and has scored four points, all coming as assists, in the last four games.
Lily Delianedis tallied her second assist and point of the season, both coming in the past four games. The first-year forward is just the second Torrent rookie with more than one point this season, coming in 23 games, behind Lyndie Lobdell’s four points in 24 games.
Natalie Snodgrass’ assist brought her one-point shy of her career high of six (1G, 5A), recorded across 23 games in Ottawa during the inaugural season. The Minnesotan has played in all of Seattle’s games but one this year, setting a new single-season career high.
Emily Brown’s fourth assist of the season set a new career high, while matching a season-best four points, recorded across each of her first two PWHL seasons in Boston. The Torrent alternate captain has points in back-to-back games for the first time since the inaugural season.
Britta Curl-Salemme recorded her sixth assist in four games against Seattle and extended her point streak in road games to six (3G, 5A) including the Denver Takeover Tour. Her 17 assists are tied for the league lead, and her 28 points rank third.
Kendall Cooper’s 16th assist of the season leads all defenders and brings her point total to 18, tied for second among rookies. The Frost first-round pick has five points in her last five games (1G, 4A).
Kendall Coyne Schofield maintained her point-per-game pace with her 11th assist and 22nd point of the season in as many games. The Frost captain finished the game with a career-high seven shots on goal and with a plus-1 rating to bring her league leading rating to plus-20.
Katy Knoll recorded her second assist in three games to extend her career high to nine points (7G, 2A). The Amherst, New Yorker’s four shots on target were her second most of the season, behind the six shots she recorded on Dec. 21 against Ottawa.
Nicole Hensley has surrendered five goals in two of her last three starts and three or more goals in each of her last six. Tonight was the seventh time in 13 starts her action has been limited to fewer than 30 shots against.
THREE STARS
1. Anna Wilgren (SEA) 1G, 2A
2. Alex Carpenter (SEA) 1G, 1A
3. Taylor Heise (MIN) 2G
STANDINGS
Minnesota: 49 PTS (13-3-4-9) – 3rd Place
Seattle: 30 PTS (8-1-4-16) – 8th Place
UPCOMING SCHEDULES
Minnesota: Saturday, April 25 at Vancouver at 6 p.m. CT / 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET
Seattle: Saturday, April 25 vs. Montréal at 7 p.m. PT / 10 p.m. ET