PWHL playoffs team-by-team preview: 'A lot of animosity'

When she picked up her phone to make the call, Taylor Heise had just learned that Toronto had chosen her team as its first-round playoff opponent. As the No. 1 seed, Toronto had its pick between either third-placed Boston or fourth-placed Minnesota, and went with the latter, Heise’s team. The standout forward, Minnesota born and raised, took the decision the way you’d expect.

“They obviously picked us for reasons that, you know, they think we’re not as good, they think they can beat us,” Heise told Sportsnet by phone on Monday night. “I think we’re really going to take that to heart. It’s going to come with a lot of animosity from us, I think.”

Get ready sports fans, because it all gets going on Wednesday. The PWHL’s first-ever post-season opens Wednesday night, with Toronto hosting Minnesota in that 1 v. 4 matchup. Third seed Boston will then visit No. 2 Montreal for Game 1 of their semi-final series at Place Bell on Thursday. 

Each series is a best-of-five, with the top-ranked team hosting the first two games and the fifth, if necessary. 

As we look at each playoff team and the matchups ahead, let’s start with the State of Hockey: 

Minnesota

Heise’s home team led the PWHL standings in the early days of the regular season, and looked to be a lock for the playoffs through March. That they were the last team to qualify, ultimately needing a loss from Ottawa in the last game of the season to get here, is the result of a dreadful five-game losing streak to close out the short 24-game campaign.  

Minnesota hasn’t won since a shootout victory over Montreal on March 24, ahead of the nearly month-long break in April for the world championship. But this team is stacked with talent — Heise is one of five Team USA players on the roster, in addition to fellow forwards Kendall Coyne Schofield, Kelly Pannek, and Grace Zumwinkle, and goalie Nicole Hensley. If they can find their rhythm again, Minnesota can beat anyone, including top-ranked Toronto. 

The team boasts a solid one-two punch in net, in Hensley (2.19 GAA in 14 starts) and Maddie Rooney (2.08 GAA in 10 starts). Their 54 goals against in the regular season are second-best only to Toronto. 

On the offensive end, it’s the rookie Zumwinkle who led the team with 19 points in the regular season, while Coyne and Pannek each chipped in with 16. Heise finished with 13 points in 19 games (she missed five games in February due to injury).

Minnesota should also get added scoring from reserve player Abigail Boreen, who can be activated for a single series in the playoffs per PWHL rules. Boreen starred for the University of Minnesota, and since she’s still a full-time student, she wasn’t eligible to sign a standard player agreement. During her three 10-day contracts with Minnesota this season (the maximum allowed), Boreen appeared in nine games and had five points, including four goals.

On Monday, a day after learning they were in, Minnesota had a practice. Heise said there was a lot more pep in everyone’s step. 

“It’s a clean slate,” she said of the playoffs. 

Minnesota better hope so, because they have to turn things around to make this a series against the league’s top team. One major key will be improving on special teams: Minnesota has a woeful 67.2 per cent efficiency rate on the penalty kill, and 8.3 per cent on the power play.  

Toronto

The No. 1 team in the regular season is riding a four-game win streak heading into the playoffs and out-scored their opponents 18-7 in that stretch. Toronto boasts the top two point-getters and goal-scorers in the league, in forwards Natalie Spooner (20 goals, seven assists) and Sarah Nurse (11 goals, 12 assists). Nurse and Spooner play on a line together with Emma Maltais, whose 19 points paced all rookies (tied with Zumwinkle). 

Firepower is Toronto’s thing: Their 69 goals led the league. Spooner is scoring at more than a goal-per-game clip in her last seven contests, with eight goals, including two on May 1 in the most recent meeting against Minnesota. 

Solid defence is also Toronto’s thing: Their 50 goals against were the fewest surrendered in the PWHL. Goalie Kristen Campbell hasn’t given up more than two goals in any of her last five starts, and served up a league-leading three shutouts this season. Campbell played all but two games for Toronto in the regular season. 

Toronto is coached by Team Canada's Troy Ryan. Seven members of Toronto’s team — defenders Renata Fast and Jocelyne Larocque, Campbell, plus forwards Spooner, Nurse, Maltais, and Blayre Turnbull — were also on the Canadian team that beat Team USA for world championship gold last month in overtime in Utica, N.Y. 

Speaking of OT, Toronto’s record there is a sparkling 4-0. 

Montreal

Montreal earned the right to host after locking up the second spot in the standings, six points ahead of Boston.  

This team boasts a potent and balanced attack led by a trio of Team Canada stars. Clutch captain Marie-Philip Poulin’s 23 points in 24 games were good for second overall in the league, while Erin Ambrose, the league’s second-most productive defender, and forward Laura Stacey each pitched in with 18 points. 

In net, Ann-Renée Desbiens is one of the world’s best, and a big-game player who backstopped Canada to that latest world championship win. Her Montreal teammates figured big there, too: Ambrose scored the winner in the gold-medal game in OT, and Poulin had two goals. 

A massive offensive addition for Montreal late this season was forward Mélodie Daoust, who signed a 10-day contract and was at a near point-per-game clip in six games. The former Olympic MVP, now 32, is one of the team’s reserve players and, like Boreen in Minnesota, can be activated for one series in the post-season. 

Montreal might choose to activate Daoust for Game 1 against Boston, or if things get desperate in the series, but the ideal scenario would see them save her for the final. Only time will tell. 

Montreal also has depth up front capable of providing scoring, like forwards Kristen O’Neill and Mikyla Grant-Mentis, who signed with Montreal last month after she was released by Ottawa. 

They also have a solid backup option in net if necessary: Elaine Chuli played in just eight games this season, but she was stellar, with a 6-1 record and a sparkling league-best 1.61 GAA.

Boston

This team clinched a playoff berth in its regular-season finale with a massive 4-3 win over Montreal on May 5, and heads into the post-season with momentum. Over its last five games, Boston suffered just one loss in overtime. 

It’s a roster full of big names, including captain Hilary Knight, defender Megan Keller, and goalie Aerin Frankel, all of whom star for Team USA. Boston was paced in scoring by Swiss star Alina Muller and her 16 points, while Finnish forward Susanna Tapani finished with 13 points and Canada’s Jamie-Lee Rattray had 11. 

They’ll hope to have Loren Gabel (seven points in 17 games) back in the lineup, but the forward hasn’t played since March due to injury and remains day-to-day. Forward Taylor Girard (six points in 23 games) is in the same boat after missing the last game of the regular season. 

Frankel is one of the best goalies in the world, and her 2.00 GAA and .929 save percentage each ranked third-best in the league. 

Boston had to scramble to get here, but the team that suffered a lot of one-goal losses earlier in the season is now perhaps at its peak when it matters most. 

What they’re hoping to find in the playoffs is the back of the net. Their 50 goals in 24 games ranked last in the PWHL, and Boston fared particularly badly with the player advantage: Their 7.5 per cent efficiency on the power play ranked last in the league. 

Head-to-head:

Toronto won three of four games against Minnesota in the regular season, with that lone loss coming the first time they played, in February.  

Montreal vs.

Boston is a lot tighter in that respect: The teams split their games in the regular season, and three out of four were decided by a single goal, while two of those games went to overtime.