Minnesota Frost lose PWHL Finals Game 1 to Ottawa Charge in overtime

Maybe the Frost has Ottawa right where they want them after Tuesday’s 2-1 overtime loss at TD Place.

The Frost arrived having never won Game 1 of a playoff series and now are 0-4 in that category.

They lost both Game 1s in last season’s run through Toronto and Boston to the inaugural Walter Cup championship.

They’re 0-2 this season after losing series starters at Toronto (again) and now Ottawa after Canadian Olympic gold medalist Emily Clark scored the winner 2:47 into OT Tuesday.

The Frost still haven’t won one from in front. They came back to win the first three, including a championship-deciding Game 5 against Boston last May.

The Charge defeated Montreal 3-1 in their five-game first-round series; Ottawa’s lone loss in that series was in four overtimes.

“We know it’s going to be a tight series,” Frost coach Ken Klee said. “They’re a good team. We know goals are going to come at a premium, and obviously, they got one more than us tonight.”

Clark’s sharp-angled shot was the winner for an Ottawa team that is now 10-1 in its past 11 one-goal games.

This time, Clark scored early in OT after the Frost last week eliminated Toronto for a second consecutive season, this time 16 minutes into overtime.

On Tuesday, the two teams swapped goals — Ottawa scored midway through the second period, the Frost early in the third — before speedy Clark took advantage of a Frost turnover inside their own blue line and raced down the left board, then shot past Frost goaltender Nicole Hensley on the very short side.

“Ottawa is a great team,” Frost defender Lee Stecklein said. “Great team, fast team, physical team. Relentless. We were prepared for that. We have faced teams like them — and them — all season. Nothing crazy. We just have to keep up with our plan for putting the puck in the net.”

Frost forward Klara Hymlarova scored her team’s only goal, early in the third period, assisted by Katy Knoll. Ottawa goaltender Gwyneth Philips chased the puck behind her net to ring it around the boards. Knoll instead interfered and centered the puck toward Hymlarova, who scored on a backhander into an open net.

If Klee numbered his lines, you’d probably say he got production out of his fourth line.

GAME SUMMARY: Charge 2, Frost 1 (OT)

“They’ve been really strong in the playoffs,” Klee said. “They add great depth. They simplify things. They get the puck in deep and they go to work. They know what their job is. They all read off each other well and they all have good sticks. It has been great having them with us, helping with our scoring because we need everybody and we know it.”

The Frost won their three games over Toronto by a combined 16-11, including a clinching 4-3 overtime decision in Game 4. The lone loss was 3-2 in Game 1.

The teams arrived Tuesday at the PWHL Finals’ Game 1 having played each other even during the regular season. Both compiled 44 points, with Ottawa winning the playoffs’ third seed because of a tiebreaker for most regulation-time wins.