PWHL Minnesota set to play Toronto in first-round playoff series

It took less than 24 hours for PWHL Toronto to transform from friend to foe. After its victory on Sunday cleared the way for PWHL Minnesota to reach the postseason, Toronto will now try to knock the Minnesotans out as quickly as possible.

The two teams will meet in the semifinals of the PWHL playoffs, kicking off a best-of-five series Wednesday in Toronto. As the No. 1 seed, Toronto won the right to choose either No. 3 seed Boston or No. 4 seed Minnesota as its opening-round opponent. It announced its pick Monday evening, opting to face a team that struggled down the stretch rather than one that was surging.

No. 2 seed Montreal will play Boston in the other semifinal series.

Toronto will host games Wednesday and Friday at Coca-Cola Coliseum. The series moves to Xcel Energy Center for Game 3 on Monday, May 13, and a potential Game 4 would be at Xcel on Wednesday, May 15. Toronto would host Game 5 on Friday, May 17, if necessary.

Minnesota ended the regular season with five consecutive losses, unable to clinch a playoff berth on its own. Ottawa could have claimed the final playoff spot with a regulation victory at Toronto on Sunday, but Toronto won that game 5-2, giving the last berth to Minnesota.

That left Minnesota sweating it out Sunday, watching on TV as two PWHL rivals determined whether its season would continue. Forward Kendall Coyne Schofield said the team’s emotions quickly shifted once that game was over.

“We had the opportunity to control our own destiny, and we weren’t able to do that,” she said. “So we relied on a [Toronto] win, and I think we were all filled with a lot of gratitude.

“We were coming to the rink [Monday] to practice, to get ready for a five-game series, and not to do exit meetings. So we look at it as a new season, an opportunity. Everyone is extremely excited.”

Minnesota lost its regular-season finale Saturday at New York, falling 5-2. It won five games in a row before the PWHL’s three-week break for the world championships, then lost five in a row after the break. Boston ended the regular season with four victories in its last five games to move into playoff position.

Toronto has won three in a row over Minnesota. It lost in the teams’ first matchup, then won twice in regulation and once in overtime. Minnesota’s three losses included a 4-1 defeat last Wednesday at Toronto, a game in which Minnesota could have earned the one point it needed to secure a playoff berth.

Toronto General Manager Gina Kingsbury said several factors went into the decision to pick Minnesota as the first-round opponent, including analytics, players’ preferences and recent results.

“It was definitely not an easy decision,” Kingsbury said. “There are no easy opponents in this league. We weighed everything. … We know we’ve got our work cut out for us against Minnesota.”

Given the way the regular season ended, Minnesota will have to quickly forget its recent woes. Coyne Schofield said the team is focusing on the season as a whole, not the final five games.

“That wasn’t our best hockey,” she said. “Moving forward, it’s a new season. We’re a tight-knit group, and we’re not just excited to be in the playoffs. We want to win.”

Toronto will host its playoff games in a different, larger arena than its regular-season home. Coca-Cola Coliseum is an 8,000-seat venue that is home to the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League.