NEWARK, NJ – The Minnesota Frost edged the New York Sirens 4-3 in a shootout on Sunday afternoon at Prudential Center in a battle between the top two teams in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL). The Frost scored the game’s first three goals, led by two from captain Kendall Coyne Schofield, and a power play marker from Taylor Heise. The Sirens battled back with three straight goals of their own, courtesy of Brooke Hobson, Elizabeth Giguère and Alex Carpenter. After a fast-paced 3-on-3 overtime, the teams traded five goals in the shootout, with Heise’s marker in the fourth round counting as the winner. Nicole Hensley stopped 33 shots for the Frost, including several spectacular saves in overtime, for her first win of the season.
QUOTES
Minnesota goaltender Nicole Hensley: “During the second period our team could have been frustrated with me, but they weren’t. We came together in the locker room, and they came out and did everything they could, and I just tried to do my job and get us some points out of the game. In a season like this, especially when you’re on the road, it’s important to get points. A team like New York has a ton of speed and a ton of skill so it’s really important to not let them have the puck in overtime. When you have people like Carp (Alex Carpenter) and Abby (Roque) coming down on you, I played with them a long time and so it’s one of those ‘you know what I know and I know what you’re going to do,’ so I just try to stay in front of it.”
New York goaltender Kayle Osborne: “We did a great job keeping them to the outside, so I think I have to give a lot of credit to our team, we played the game how we wanted to for the last two periods. I think the rest of the players in front of me get the most credit who made my night very easy.”
New York Head Coach Greg Fargo: “It wasn’t the start that we wanted, giving up a two-goal cushion for the other team. In a lot of other ways, I liked a lot of parts of our game in the first period. I thought we came out and controlled a good amount of the play. Comparable to our first start at Minnesota to begin the year, it was much more improved. We had a couple of tough bounces there to be down and then we had to claw our way back, but there a lot of good things from our start and I just thought our group did a really nice job to kind of turn the page and get better as the game went on.”
NOTABLES
Minnesota extended their winning streak to four straight games and remain the only team in the PWHL without a regulation loss.
The Frost scored three shootout goals for the third time in three shootout games since the inaugural season. Denisa Křížová scored for the second time in her third career attempt, Grace Zumwinkle scored for the fourth time in four career attempts, and Taylor Heise scored for the third time in three career attempts. The shootout featured a PWHL record five goals on nine total attempts.
Today’s game was the fourth time in seven all-time meetings between these teams to be decided in either overtime or a shootout, the most in any PWHL matchup.
It took Minnesota 5:09 to register their first shot on net and it resulted in a goal by Kendall Coyne Schofield. It’s the second time this season the Frost have scored on their first shot against the Sirens following Zumwinkle‘sgoal just 21 seconds into the season opener.
Coyne Schofield recorded her first career multi-goal performance and is now tied for second in the league with three goals in five games. The captain became the fifth member of the Frost in three games with a two-goal effort and extended her point streak to three games (2G, 3A).
Alex Carpenter scored her fourth goal of the season for New York to extend her season-opening point streak to five games (4G, 3A). Her four goals lead the league, and her seven points are tied for first overall with teammate Sarah Fillier (2G, 5A) and Minnesota’s Claire Thompson (1G, 6A).
Thompson recorded a primary assist to extend her point streak to three games (1G, 5A). Her six total assists lead the PWHL.
Heise scored her first goal of the season and extended her point streak to four games (1G, 5A). The tally was the first power play goal of her career and Minnesota’s fourth on the advantage this season – one shy of the five PPG the team scored in 24 games last season.
Kelly Pannek recorded a primary assist to extend her point streak to three games (2G, 2A).
Brooke Hobson and Elizabeth Giguère scored their first goals of the season for New York. Hobson had one goal in 24 games and Giguère scored three times in 24 games with the Sirens during the inaugural season.
Elle Hartje, New York’s fifth round draft pick, recorded the first two points (2A) of her PWHL career.
Kayle Osborne stopped 18 of 19 shots in her PWHL debut between-the-pipes. New York’s fifth round draft pick entered the game in the second period in relief of Abigail Levy who made her first start of the season.
Olivia Knowles made her Sirens debut and was credited with 7:19 minutes of ice time.
New York outshot Minnesota 36-25, marking the first time the Frost have been outshot by an opponent in five games this season.
This was the second time in team history where New York erased a 3-0 deficit. The Sirens scored four straight goals back on Feb. 4 in a 4-3 overtime win against Ottawa.
Eight players from today’s game enter the holiday break among the league’s top 10 scorers: Carpenter (4G, 3A), Fillier (2G, 5A), Thompson (1G, 6A), Coyne Schofield (3G, 3A), Heise (1G, 5A), Pannek (2G, 3A), and New York’s Jessie Eldridge (1G, 4A) and Micah Zandee-Hart (1G, 4A).
SCORESHEET RECAP
Minnesota 2 1 0 0 – 4
New York 0 2 1 0 – 3
1st Period-1, Minnesota, Coyne Schofield 2 (Pannek, Cava), 5:09. 2, Minnesota, Coyne Schofield 3 15:42. Penalties-No Penalties
2nd Period-3, Minnesota, Heise 1 (Thompson, Zumwinkle), 2:15 (PP). 4, New York, Hobson 1 (Hartje, Nylen Persson), 2:57. 5, New York, Giguère 1 (Simpson, Hartje), 8:59. Penalties-Eldridge Ny (kneeing), 0:36; Downie-Landry Ny (hooking), 12:32; Zandee-Hart Ny (high sticking), 18:28.
3rd Period-6, New York, Carpenter 4 8:55. Penalties-Curl-Salemme Min (interference), 0:10; Křížová Min (roughing), 2:51.
1st OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties
Shootout – Minnesota 3 (Křížová G, Zumwinkle G, Cava NG, Heise G), New York 2 (Tulus G, Fillier NG, Carpenter G, Giguère NG, Roque NG).
Shots on Goal-Minnesota 5-11-7-1-1-25. New York 7-8-16-5-0-36.
Power Play Opportunities-Minnesota 1 / 3; New York 0 / 2.
Goalies-Minnesota, Hensley 1-0-1-0 (36 shots-33 saves). New York, Levy 0-0-0-0 (5 shots-3 saves); Osborne 0-0-0-1 (19 shots-18 saves).
A-2,722
THREE STARS
1. Nicole Hensley (MIN) 33 SV
2. Kendall Coyne Schofield (MIN) 2G
3. Elizabeth Giguère (NY) 1G
STANDINGS
Minnesota (3-1-1-0) – 12 PTS – 1st Place
New York (2-1-1-1) – 9 PTS – 2nd Place
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Minnesota: Saturday, December 28 vs. Montréal at 1:00pm CT
New York: Sunday, December 29 vs. Ottawa at 1:00pm ET
