Saturday evening’s contest between PWHL Minnesota and PWHL Boston was an intense and enjoyable affair. The two teams’ seasons opened against one another at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, MA earlier in January with Minnesota winning the contest 3-2. In the second go ‘round Minnesota went with Maddie Rooney in goal, and Boston with Emma Söderberg.

               Boston opened the scoring with a goal from Kaleigh Fratkin 5 minutes into the game (assists from Jamie Lee Rattray and Jessica Digirolamo) that was followed by another from Taylor Girard 30 seconds later (From Shiann Darkangelo and Nicole Kosta). Minnesota would not sit idly by as Brittyn Fleming would score her first of the year at the 13-minute mark (assists from Liz Schepers and Claire Butorac). Alina Müller would continue her hot streak by answering less than 90-seconds later (with assists from Loren Gabel and Hilary Knight). Despite the shot total being 7-6 (BOS Adv) the second period was dominated by Minnesota, and their efforts paid dividends when Grace Zumwinkle scored her 6^th of the year (from Lee Stecklein and Taylor Heise) with less than a minute remaining in the period. The third period played out similarly to the second, but this time Minnesota outshot the home team 9-2. With Rooney on the bench, Kendal Coyne Schofield scored the equalizer from Stecklein and Zumwinkle with 53 seconds left in regulation. Both teams had a quick rush in each direction in the closing 45-seconds, but nothing to stave off overtime. The overtime period started with a faceoff win by Minnesota, but possession was lost during their zone entry, and Boston never gave it back. Knight would score the game winning goal on a trickle through shot that seemingly moved in slow motion (assists by Keller and Müller).

               There was a lot to digest and take away from this game. First off, Ken Klee made an amazing coaching adjustment after the first period to adjust Minnesota’s gaps in transition to prevent the breakouts that Boston was leveraging to set up and score from seemingly at will. I will continue to parrot the fact that Zumwinkle and Heise are the best duo in the league, and they don’t need much time or space to do significant damage in the offensive zone…I would like to see Klee figure out the perfect player to complete that line, because if they had a 3^rd star with them, Zumwinkle could have easily had 4 points in this game. It was also great to see Coyne Schofield score a big game-tying goal for Minnesota, because she is a star player who hasn’t had the bounces go her way so far this season. I look forward to what that goal will do for her confidence. After being on a tear for seemingly the entire season at this point, Müller has entered the “MVP” race for the league, as she has been Boston’s best player almost every night this season on both ends of the ice. Finally, seeing Knight get her first point of the season early in the game was nice, but seeing her show up and score the clutch game-winner should do for Boston what Coyne Schofield’s game-tier does for Minnesota moving forward. Minnesota in back in action tomorrow afternoon at New York, and Boston is back in action next Sunday against PWHL Montreal.