PWHL: 4 Takeaways From 3-2 Minnesota Win vs. Boston

Off a turnover from the defensive zone to the neutral zone, superstar center and the first-overall pick of the 2023 PWHL Draft, Taylor Heise, opened the scoring with a high-skill goal to beat Boston netminder Aerin Frankel. The 23-year-old star could be one of the big reasons why opposing defenses and trailing forwards will have to respect the Minnesota rush moving forward.

In this game, Minnesota heavily relied on chances in transition to score. As mentioned before, Heise scored the first goal in this one. A reason why she can be so dominant in the PWHL is for her all-around talent — spanning from hockey IQ to her deadly skating ability. To score, she cut to the outside of Boston defender Jessica DiGirolamo and created as much space as possible to snipe one far-side past Frankel.

If she gets the puck in transition, it won’t be long before she scores a goal of her own or generates a high-quality chance for a teammate. Heise demands immense respect, but with how fast the game is played, that’s not always possible. She’ll likely be a dynamo for Minnesota all season long.

In addition, forward Grace Zumwinkle scored a one-time rocket from the high slot off a perfect feed from defenseman Mellissa Channell. The latter entered the zone with speed through some traffic and not only drew attention to herself but slowed down the play in the process. That left Zumwinkle wide open and gave Frankel virtually no chance of making the save. In a flash, Minnesota got on the board to take a 3-1 lead — that is what the impact of a dominant team on the rush can have.

If it wasn’t for some excellence from Frankel, Minnesota would have likely done even more damage. The quality of the shots she faced didn’t do her any favors in finding some sustained mojo. The speed and skill on the Minnesota roster could make them a challenging team to play against moving forward. If what they showed against Boston is what they truly are, they should be a dynamic offense.

Hensley Will Be an X-Factor for Minnesota

While Minnesota was the better team in terms of generating offense, Boston had several point-blank chances of their own. It was a fantastic game from the team overall, but there were a few defensive breakdowns that forced netminder Nicole Hensley to be at her best — she absolutely was, and was the player of the game with 33 saves on 35 shots against.

The 29-year-old was Minnesota’s second-round pick in the 2023 PWHL Draft for a reason. She has plenty of international experience with Team USA Hockey, being the natural pick as the first goaltender taken off the board in the draft. In the PWHL in general, having an elite goaltender will be what separates the good teams from the great ones. If Hensley can consistently get Minnesota out of trouble, the wins will come and they can spend more time perfecting their offense. She cemented her case as being one of the elite.

Poised Defense Should Be a Staple for Both Teams

Getting into some positives from both sides, the defense — particularly zone exits — was fantastic from Boston and Minnesota. The number of exits was rather abundant, making it easy to struggle with them once in a while. Both squads were comfortable with carrying the puck for extended periods in their zone and then extending the play through the neutral zone on passes. To be able to consistently generate offense, that will be key.

Looking at specific defenders from both sides, Boston defender and alternate captain Megan Keller, who scored a goal in this one, frequently had the puck on her stick, yet made no serious errors. As for Minnesota, top-pairing defender Lee Stecklein was also hard to miss. Despite being in just their first games in a completely new and stylistically different league than women’s hockey at both the collegiate and even international level, it’s not an easy thing to adjust to.

In a fast-paced league like the PWHL, the defense will be key to creating offense. Both sides were generating scoring chances consistently largely because of this.

Boston Rebounded After the First Period

After a first period where Boston was outscored 2-0, they made Minnesota sweat out their victory a bit with improved play in the second and third frames of the game. They gave themselves a chance, but it was Hensley who showed up time and time again with an answer.

Minnesota started to hunker down a bit after they got their multi-goal lead, especially late in the game. That gave Boston some life throughout, never truly taking them out of it. They surrendered a tally and scored one of their own in the second, so the third period is where they had to bounce back.

An Alina Müller goal early in the third period was waved off for Boston, so the third is where they did in fact start to turn on the jets. A goal with less than three minutes remaining proved to be too little too late, but their ability to rebound was admirable.

Though a loss will be hard to swallow for Boston with how they had Minnesota on their heels late, the major takeaway should be that they improved as time went along. It’s something to build off of as they get more comfortable and enter the full swing of the PWHL season.

Next up, captain Kendall Coyne Schofield and her Minnesota squad will have their home debut against Montreal on Jan. 6. For Boston, they’ll be on their home ice again to face Ottawa, who dropped their first game in overtime to Montreal.