Toronto treads lightly, choosing 4th-place Minnesota over 3rd-place Boston as PWHL playoff opponent

“To be honest, from a hockey perspective, I think it would be somewhat irresponsible to tip my hat to the exact details,” Ryan said. Of all the aspects taken into consideration, ranging from analytics, head-to-head records, travel and injuries, among the most important, perhaps, was the fear of providing their opponent any additional motivation entering the best-of-five semifinal series, which opens in Toronto on Wednesday.