PWHL Minnesota beats Toronto in Game 5 to reach inaugural finals

The scene came to Taylor Heise in a dream. The PWHL Minnesota forward pictured her team scoring on the power play Friday in Toronto, during the decisive Game 5 of the playoff semifinals.

That seemed unlikely for a group that went 5-for-61 on the power play in the regular season. Winning the series seemed like a long shot as well, after Minnesota was shut out in the first two games. But Heise turned her dreaming into doing, scoring the winning goal on the power play to give Minnesota a 4-1 victory and send it to the Walter Cup finals.

After losing seven consecutive games, including those two playoff shutouts, fourth-seeded Minnesota beat top-seeded Toronto three times in a row to earn a matchup vs. Boston in the best-of-five finals. Boston hosts the first two games Sunday and Tuesday, with Game 3 Friday at Xcel Energy Center.

If additional games are necessary, Minnesota also would host Game 4 on May 26, while Game 5 would be in Boston on May 29.

Minnesota scored twice on three power-play chances at Coca-Cola Coliseum to complete its comeback. Denisa Krizova struck first at seven minutes, 29 seconds of the second period. Toronto’s Rebecca Leslie countered with the tying goal only 38 seconds later.

Heise banged home a power-play beauty at 8:30 of the third period to put Minnesota back on top for good. She and Sophia Kunin added empty-net goals, while goaltender Maddie Rooney locked things down at the other end. Rooney, an Andover native who played at Minnesota Duluth, had 27 saves Friday and allowed only one goal in the final three games of the series.

“It’s kind of indescribable,” said Heise, the former Gophers star from Lake City. “We had a tough skid, and I really don’t think anyone believed in us but us.

“No one believed in our power play, and we came out and had two goals. I told the team before the game we were going to put one in, and we did. We’re really excited to head to Boston.”

Boston, the No. 3 seed, swept second-seeded Montreal in the other semifinal series.

As the No. 1 seed, Toronto got to choose Minnesota or Boston as its semifinal opponent. It picked Minnesota, which ended the regular season with five losses in a row. Before Minnesota began its rally with a Game 3 victory, the losing streak was up to seven, including three shutout losses and six consecutive defeats on the road.

Minnesota was able to clear all that away. After a 2-0 victory in Game 3 last Monday at Xcel Energy Center, it won Wednesday’s Game 4 at home, beating Toronto 1-0 in double overtime.

“We just tried to go one game at a time,” coach Ken Klee said. “We said, ‘Hey, we just got to win today, and that’s it.’ These guys did an unbelievable job of staying with it.”

Toronto played the final two games of the series without star Natalie Spooner, who was injured in Game 3. Despite missing the PWHL’s leading scorer, it seized the early edge in Game 5, outshooting Minnesota 21-7 through the first 25 minutes.

Krizova scored the game’s first goal on a rebound. Rooney was airtight until Leslie’s goal, which ended Rooney’s shutout streak at 173:19.

Heise’s heroics restored Minnesota’s lead, and kept a dream season going.

“[Toronto] thought they were going to beat us,” she said. “But we’re never going to give up.”

The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.