Game 1: Saturday, May 2, 2026 | 2 p.m. ET | Place Bell
WATCH LIVE: Prime Video (Canada), FOX 9+, Scripps Sports, PWHL YouTube & thepwhl.com (U.S. / International), More
EN: Eric Gallanty (Play-by-Play), Becky Kellar (Analyst), Rob Pizzo (Reporter);
FR: Matt Cullen (Play-by-Play), Kathy Desjardins (Analyst), Alexandre Despatie (Studio Host), Ann-Sophie Bettez (Studio Analyst)
MINNESOTA FROST
13-3-5-9 | 50 PTS | 3RD PLACE
Top Scorer: Kelly Pannek – 30 GP, 16-17-33 PTS
Special Teams: PP 23.0% (1) | PK 78.3% (8)
MONTRÉAL VICTOIRE
16-6-2-6 | 62 PTS | 1ST PLACE
Top Scorer: Abby Roque – 29 GP, 8-14-22 PTS
Special Teams: PP 19.3% (2) | PK 91.8% (1)
2026 PWHL WALTER CUP PLAYOFFS: BEST-OF-FIVE SEMIFINAL SERIES
Game 1 at MTL (May 2) | Game 2 at MTL (May 5) | Game 3 at MIN (May 7) | Game 4 at MIN (TBD) | Game 5 at MTL (TBD)
2025-26 SEASON SERIES: MONTRÉAL WON 10-2 IN POINTS (MTL LEADS 31-14 IN POINTS ALL-TIME)
Jan. 4 at MTL: 3-2 MTL (OT) | Jan. 21 at MIN: 2-1 MTL (OT) | Mar. 1 at MTL: 4-0 MTL | Mar. 25 at MIN: 3-0 MTL
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Montréal has won six straight games against Minnesota dating back to last March (3-3-0-0), the longest win streak ever by a team against the Frost. Montréal was the only team Minnesota did not beat in the regular season, and Minnesota is the only team Montréal did not lose against. The Victoire have won 11 of the 15 all-time meetings (8-3-1-3) in the matchup including four of five all-time at Place Bell.
Minnesota and Montréal are the only two teams to make the playoffs in all three PWHL seasons, but this will be the first time the teams have met in the postseason. Minnesota has won all four of its playoff series but have lost the opening game each time. Montréal has won just one of its seven all-time playoff games, and it came in quadruple overtime in the longest game in PWHL history at Place Bell on May 11, 2025.
Montréal averaged 29.8 shots on goal per game this season, the third highest in a regular season in league history (2024 MIN – 30.6, 2024 OTT – 30.0). The Victoire also allowed just 25.2 shots on goal per game, the second lowest allowed in a season in league history (2024-25 MIN 24.2).
Minnesota enters the playoffs with four straight losses but the highest scoring offense in league history had multiple goals in each of its last six road games and in 13 of its 15 road games this season (tied with Boston). The only time that the Frost have failed to score two or more goals in a road game since New Year’s Day was at Montréal on March 1 (4-0 Victoire win).
Marie-Philip Poulin will hit the ice at Place Bell for the first time since Mar. 15. The Victoire captain returned to action last Saturday and extended her point streak to five games (3G, 2A) dating back to Jan. 28 before the Olympic break. She led the regular season series with five points (3G, 2A) despite only playing three games and scored two overtime-winning goals.
Kendall Coyne Schofield led Minnesota in head-to-head scoring with three points (1G, 2A) despite only playing in two of the four games. The Frost captain led the PWHL with a plus-22 rating this season and was one of three players to average a point-per-game or higher (Kelly Pannek and Taylor Heise).
Pannek led the PWHL with 16 goals and a record 33 points but scored just once in four games against the Victoire. Heise finished second in PWHL scoring with 30 points but was limited to just two assists in the season series. She has the most career points in PWHL playoff games with 15 (6G, 9A).
Ann-Renée Desbiens tied for the league lead with a record 19 wins, four of which came against the Frost, including two of her seven shutouts for a 0.73 goals-against average and .964 save percentage in the season series. Her 1.11 GAA and .955 SV% this season are both league records.
The Frost have 16 players (including reserves and LTIR) who have won the Walter Cup, including nine back-to-back champions. Québec native Élizabeth Giguère is the only Frost player, excluding rookies, without any playoff experience with 66 career regular season games under her belt. Forward Sam Cogan and defender Jincy Roese both logged postseason minutes against the Frost with Toronto and Ottawa in 2024 and 2025, respectively, and Sidney Morin competed against both Montréal and Minnesota in Boston’s run to the 2024 finals.
Maggie Flaherty won back-to-back Walter Cup titles with 16 games of playoff experience before joining the Victoire. Jessica DiGirolamo (Boston) and Shiann Darkangelo (Ottawa) experienced postseason action in Montréal on the visiting side, with the forward scoring the winning goal in Game 1 last season at Place Bell, before facing Minnesota in the finals. Maureen Murphy is Montréal’s all-time leading playoff scorer with five points (3G, 2A) in seven career postseason games.
Abby Roque will make her playoff debut after 83 career regular season games. She set career highs in all offensive categories in her first season with the Victoire. Québec native Jade Downie-Landry is another former New York forward poised for a playoff debut after 77 career regular season games without.
Nicole Gosling enters her first playoffs riding a six-game point streak for the Victoire (1G, 7A). The only other rookie with a six-game streak this season was fellow defender Kendall Cooper of the Frost, who led all rearguards with a record 17 assists.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
“We are so excited to get to work. Playoffs are a special time, and from what we know, it will be a fantastic series. It’s going to take everyone and everything we have to win, and we are excited and willing to do that.” - Frost forward Taylor Heise
“We've been preparing for the playoffs for a little while now, in terms of how we want to taper the end of the year, what it looks like, and what type of information are we giving the girls and kind of sprinkling it versus trying to get everything done in a small period of time. When it comes to overtime, all we can try to do is control regulation and do what we can to play our game in the first 60 minutes and hope that it's enough. If there's overtime, I think everybody in all departments learned a lot from last year.” - Victoire Head Coach Kori Cheverie
SATURDAY’S GAME: The 2026 PWHL Walter Cup Playoffs, presented by SharkNinja, begin this afternoon at Place Bell for first-place Montréal and third-place Minnesota in Game 1 of the best-of-five semifinal series, the first-ever head-to-head playoff meeting between the teams. This will be the fifth PWHL playoff game all-time in Laval where the Victoire are 1-3 but skated to a 9-2-1-0 record during the regular season. The Frost were 4-2-3-5 in opposing PWHL markets this season and went 5-5 on the road across their two Walter Cup title runs. The entire city has playoff fever with the Victoire chasing the Walter Cup, the Montréal Canadiens going into Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday, and the Laval Rocket tied 1-1 with the Toronto Marlies in their Calder Cup playoff series. The Victoire led the PWHL in jersey sales this past season and fans at Place Bell will be rocking the team’s maroon and cream colours while DJ Bruno Berdnikoff creates a party-like atmosphere. Jennifer Lee-Dupuy will perform the national anthems. Both teams will debut Walter Cup crests on their jerseys and helmet stickers that will be worn for the duration of the postseason. Today’s referees are David Elford and Samantha Hiller, with linespersons Katie Glover and Dustin McCrank. This is the first of two playoff games on today’s schedule with the Boston Fleet hosting the Ottawa Charge tonight at 7 p.m. ET. Following that game, fans can tune-in for live reaction of both results with Jocks in Jills streaming on the league’s YouTube channel.