PWHL Minnesota looking to pull even, stop slide in Game 2 at Toronto
The first playoff game in franchise history is out of the way, but PWHL Minnesota is still seeking its first playoff goal. And more importantly, its first victory since March 24.
Minnesota continues its best-of-five, first-round playoff series at Toronto on Friday night. Host and top-seeded Toronto won Game 1 4-0 Wednesday at Coca-Cola Coliseum, with Kristen Campbell stopping all 26 shots she faced for the shutout.
That was Minnesota's sixth consecutive loss, following a five-game losing streak to end the regular season after returning from a three-week break for the world championships. Minnesota only got into the playoffs because Toronto beat Ottawa on the final day of the season Sunday.
Minnesota players got to Toronto on Monday morning, but the team's equipment didn't arrive until 11 p.m. That made coach Ken Klee upset when he met with reporters Wednesday morning, but after the game he didn't blame the travel problems for the loss.
"To be honest with you, we played a good game," Klee said in his postgame news conference. "We had a couple mental mistakes, individual mistakes, and they capitalized. You look at the game as a whole, we got down and we were chasing. That's the tough part. They capitalized on their chances. It had nothing to do with travel for us.
"We haven't given up rush goals, I don't think, the entire year, and I think we had three or four tonight. They might have been all four. So again, it's something we can correct and we definitely will."
Game 3 of the series is Monday night at Xcel Energy Center. If necessary, a fourth game would be Wednesday at the X, with the series returning to Toronto for a decisive Game 5 on May 17.
