Minnesota Frost turn away Toronto Sceptres, even PWHL playoff series at a win apiece

The Minnesota Frost scored twice in the final seven minutes to pull out a 5-3 victory over the host Toronto Sceptres on Friday night.

The Frost victory evened the best-of-five PWHL playoff series 1-1. Toronto won the series opener 3-2 on Wednesday. Game 3 is Sunday at Xcel Energy Center, and Game 4 is Wednesday at the X.

Despite being outshot 13-4 in the third period — 9-1 in the first 12 minutes of the period — the Frost broke a 3-3 tie with a goal by Sophie Jaques with 6 minutes, 13 seconds remaining. Mellissa Channell-Watkins scored on the power play, assisted by Jaques and Kelly Pannek, with 71 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

The Frost trailed 1-0 early in the second period before scoring three times in a little over eight minutes to open a 3-1 lead. But the Sceptres responded with two goals in a 27-second span — the first a power-play goal with 3:04 left in the second — to tie the score 3-3.

Lee Stecklein, who didn’t score in Minnesota’s first 28 regular-season games before scoring three goals in the final two regular-season games, tied the game 1-1 with 15:19 remaining in the second period.

A little over six minutes later, Michela Cava gave the Frost their first lead of the series with a goal, assisted by Stecklein and Taylor Heise, with 9:03 remaining in the second period.

Stecklein extended the lead to 3-1 with a power-play goal with 7:01 left in the second.

GAME SUMMARY: Frost 5, Sceptres 3

“It’s the playoffs,” Frost coach Ken Klee said of Stecklein’s sudden offense. “We know we have to find different ways to score goals, and different people have to contribute, and she knows that. She exemplifies that. That’s why she’s one of our leaders and one of our best players. She was awesome.“

Frost goalie Maddie Rooney had 27 saves. It was the first time in seven career playoff games that Toronto goalie Kristen Campbell, who had 20 saves, allowed more than two goals against in a game.

The Frost played without forward Britta Curl-Salemme, who was given a one-game suspension by the PWHL for an illegal check to the head of Toronto defender Renata Fast on Wednesday. Curl-Salemme was given a major penalty and a game misconduct for the play, which happened late in the second period.