On a chilly afternoon on February 17^th, 2024, PWHL Minnesota visited PWHL Ottawa for their third contest of the season. The first two meetings between these two teams ended in 1-goal victories for Minnesota back on January 17^th and February 14^th (just 3 days prior to this game). The last meeting was of great intrigue for Minnesota as it was their first game after trading Susanna Tapani and Abby Cook to Boston for Sophie Jacques. It was also their first game with Taylor Heise out of the lineup due to an upper body injury. A key takeaway from that matchup was Ken Klee trying to adjust his team’s strategy to replace two of their most prolific scoring forwards on short notice. In Saturday’s matchup, Minnesota went with Nicole Hensley in goal, and Carla MacLeod went with Emerance Maschmeyer, who has played in every PWHL Ottawa game this season.

               Overall, this was a game that was well defined by its structural defense and goaltending. The first period had good transitional play and attacking from both sides, with Ottawa having an 11-10 advantage in shots, but it was Minnesota’s Sophia Kunin who was able to breakthrough for the game’s first goal with 90-seconds remaining in the opening frame. The second period was dominated by Ottawa, as they would control play to a tune of 13-6 shots on goal margin. Halfway into the period, Ottawa’s efforts would pay off. Gabbie Hughes would use her speed to create separation on an offensive zone entry where she connected a great pass to Amanda Boulier who threaded a needle through an atom to Emily Clark crashing toward an open net to tie the game at one. The tie would not survive to the end of the frame; however, as Grace Zumwinkle would corral a rebound from Maggie Flaherty, and use her silky mitts to turn an awkward bouncing puck into a 2-1 lead. The third period saw a desperate Ottawa team be stifled by a strong Minnesota defense that was able to hold the trailing party to 5 shots on goal over the final twenty.

               Overall, this was an important win for a Minnesota team who have been playing .500 hockey since the end of January. Zumwinkle scoring her 7^th of the season was important, as the offensive fireworks have slowed for the team from the State of Hockey lately, and getting their top producers back on track will help them keep pace with the surging teams in Montreal and Toronto. Ottawa’s forward group has struggled to finish on their chances over their last 5 games, and coach MacLeod has her work cut out for her to fix that. In what will either be lucky or disastrous for the team in Canada’s capital is their next two games are against Boston, a team stuck in the same holding pattern of goal scoring inefficiency. Either way, this coming run of games will be large for both of these teams.