PWHL playoff preview: Montreal’s bold choice, Minnesota’s last dance, plus how to watch

Last season, Montreal opted to face the Ottawa Charge (the No. 3 seed), and bowed out of the postseason in four games. Charge goalie Gwyneth Philips, the eventual playoff MVP, posted a .955 save percentage in the first round, and only allowed six goals against in the series. Philips has been red-hot down the stretch for Ottawa again this season too, winning four straight games and making 130 saves on 132 shots to help her team clinch another playoff berth.

Given the choice between playing against a high-end goalie hitting her stride and the back-to-back champs, Montreal went with the latter.

According to Dom Luszczyszyn’s model, the Victoire would be the heavy favorites either way, with a 74 percent chance at beating the Charge in the semifinals — just five percent greater than their odds against Minnesota.

There’s no question that the Frost have star power, with the best group of five forwards in the league. Kelly Pannek, Taylor Heise, Grace Zumwinkle, Kendall Coyne Schofield and Britta Curl-Salemme combined for 65 goals this season, which accounted for around 71 percent of the team’s offense. It’s also more than three entire teams — Toronto, New York and Seattle — scored all season, which is incredibly impressive. Their depth, however, looks like it could be exploitable for Montreal.

Minnesota also struggled to produce at the same elite clip against the league’s top teams. Sixty-five of the Frost’s 91 goals this season came against non-playoff teams. They scored just 13 against Montreal (3) and Boston (10), the top two teams in the PWHL standings.

Montreal beat Minnesota in all four regular season meetings this season, outscoring the Frost 12-3 and shutting them out entirely in their last two matchups — including in one game without Montreal captain Marie-Philip Poulin. Leading that shutdown has been Ann-Renée Desbiens, who set records for the league’s best single-season save percentage (.955) and goals-against average (1.11), and is one of the biggest reasons to believe this year’s playoff result might be different.

It’s certainly a risk to bet against Minnesota in the playoffs — or to knowingly poke the bear, if you will. But at the very least, it looks like a reasonable pick by the league’s best team.

The rest of the field

The Victoire’s choice in opponent sets up what could be an incredible goalie duel between Boston starter Aerin Frankel and Ottawa’s Gwyneth Philips. While Philips was the star of last year’s playoffs, it was Frankel in 2024 who carried her team to the Finals, losing in five games to Minnesota.

The Boston Fleet missed the playoffs last year, but have been one of the league’s most dominant teams this season and became the fastest in league history to clinch a playoff spot (on March 29) with six games remaining in their regular season. Under new coach Kris Sparre, Boston plays a solid defensive game — only Montreal (41) allowed fewer goals against this season than Boston (45) — anchored by Frankel between the pipes.

In her third PWHL season, Frankel posted career highs in save percentage (.953) and goals-against average (1.17), which each ranked second behind Desbiens. She also broke (another) league record for shutouts in a single season with eight and her 19 wins this season tied Desbiens for the most in a single season.

And as scary as Boston’s “green monster” is, she’s not the only reason the Fleet are heavily favored in this matchup. The team has elite talent at every position, despite major losses in the expansion draft, including captain Hilary Knight.

Boston has two of the best defenders in the league in Megan Keller and Haley Winn, who Sparre can use on a loaded top pair. He can also split them up for a more balanced top four that can come in waves with two all-situations defenders.

Keller, who scored the golden goal for Team USA at the Milan Olympics, led the position in scoring this season (22 points). Winn, who was drafted second overall in last year’s draft, finished third among defenders (19) and second among all rookie skaters.

“She didn’t play like a rookie,” Keller said about her teammate for club and country. “She’s been a part of the national team for years, and she’s incredible to watch, incredible to play with. … I find myself sometimes just watching her do her thing, because she’s so fun (with) creating space and creating opportunities for our team.”

Nobody played more than Winn (26:45) or Keller (26:39) this season, who also rank top five in overall net rating among league-wide defenders. Boston’s depth on defense isn’t ideal, especially with free agent signing Zoe Boyd on long-term injury reserve, but Winn and Keller have proven able to carry the load.

At forward, Alina Müller, Susanna Tapani and Jessie Eldridge give Boston a big three that could be difficult to handle. Müller is one of the premier playmakers in the PWHL and has paired well with Eldridge — a naturally gifted goal-scorer who was acquired via trade with Seattle in March — on Boston’s top line, combining for six goals in the final month of the season.

This matchup should be tighter than the odds suggest, however, as the Charge pushed the Fleet to overtime or a shootout in all four regular season meetings. And Boston only won one of those games, 3-2 in a shootout.

“It’s a big testament, I think, to how good of goalies they are,” Keller said. “(We’re) gonna have to find ways to get pucks in the back of the net.”

Storylines to watch

How will Poulin’s injury affect Montreal?

Since the moment she left the ice at the Milan Olympics, Poulin’s status has been a near-constant topic in the women’s game. A lower-body injury in Milan forced her to miss two games at the Olympics for Team Canada, and Montreal’s first contest following the Olympic break.

She returned for a few games, before leaving a March 15 game against Boston, favoring her right leg. Poulin spent much of the final month of the season on long-term injured reserve and returned for the final game of the season, tallying an assist on Montreal’s opening goal to help the team clinch the No. 1 seed. When asked to rate how healthy she feels heading into the postseason, Poulin was charmingly evasive.

“The heart, the mind is there,” she said. “I’m going to do anything possible to play my game.”

Poulin, 34, is still widely considered the best player in the game. Despite the injury, she was a point-per-game player this season and ranks second in Net Rating (5.4) behind only Kendall Coyne Schofield (6.2).

Perhaps more importantly, Montreal is far better constructed this season to compete in the postseason, and to withstand an injury to someone as critical to the mix as Poulin. Montreal has more offensive depth this season, with Abby Roque and Hayley Scamurra joining veteran Laura Stacey at the top of the Montreal scoring list. Rookie defender Nicole Gosling has been excellent this season, and tied Winn for the co-lead in rookie scoring by a defender with 19 points.

In 10 games down the stretch without Poulin, Montreal had 12 different scorers, including depth players such as Catherine Dubois and Kaitlin Willoughby, who had never scored in the PWHL before April 3 against Ottawa. Scamurra, a valuable defensive forward, led the way with five goals and her first career hat trick. During that stretch, Montreal lost just one game in regulation.

“Coming into the playoffs, we’ve struggled the last two years (but) it’s a new year and it’s a new team,” said Poulin. “We have depth, we have the right people.”

Ottawa’s top line

Boston’s elite talent certainly gives them an edge in the series, but the Ottawa Charge have one of the most productive lines in the PWHL. No two players combined for more goals this season than Ottawa captain Brianne Jenner and Rebecca Leslie (16), who each finished in the top 10 in league-wide scoring.

Jenner had a resurgent season with 12 goals and 26 points in 30 games. Leslie, meanwhile, is arguably the breakout player of the 2025-26 season. In her first two years, between Toronto and Ottawa, Leslie was a useful depth player, scoring three career goals in her first 51 career games. This year, Leslie looked a step quicker at training camp, and according to Jenner, “so many pieces to her game were just so dialed in.” Leslie quickly earned a top-line role beside Jenner — who she played with in the now-defunct Canadian Women’s Hockey League back in 2019 — and broke out for 14 goals and 23 points.

“She’s come up in such big moments for us this year,” Jenner said. “I’ve been really lucky to play with her and it’s been fun to have that chemistry with someone that I’ve known for so long.”

Rookie Sarah Wozniewicz has been an excellent complementary winger on that line, with high energy and forechecking ability.

“We’re able to create a lot of quick transition offense because of what Woz brings to our line,” Jenner said.

Should Boston’s top defenders shut Ottawa’s top line down, the Charge have other options in Gabbie Hughes and Fanuza Kadirova, who entered the league as a wild card from a Russian women’s hockey league and finished third on the team in goals.

Minnesota’s last dance?

While most teams were devastated by the expansion draft process, Minnesota largely picked up right where it left off last season, finishing with the league’s best offense for a second consecutive year. The Frost lost star defenders Sophie Jaques and Claire Thompson on defense, but the team still retained most of its core group despite leaving several important forwards exposed to the expansion draft process.

Captain Coyne Schofield, Heise, Curl-Salemme and No. 1 defender Lee Stecklein were protected by the Frost. But — by virtue of expansion Vancouver opting for depth forwards in the draft — Kelly Pannek and Grace Zumwinkle slipped through the cracks. Pannek went on to win the league’s scoring title and Zumwinkle finished fifth in goals with a career-high 13.

The league’s rules around the next round of expansion have yet to be revealed, but if teams are only able to protect three (or four) players again this season, there’s very little chance Pannek and Zumwinkle sneak through should they be left unprotected again. No matter who the Frost leave unprotected, they’re bound to lose another critical group of talent, whether it’s established stars or valuable rookies like defender Kendall Cooper. That’s not necessarily unique to the Frost, as every team will feel the pain of expansion again this offseason, but more looming changes could give Minnesota’s quest for a threepeat a bit more of a “Last Dance” feel.

The Frost have already shown over the last two years they just have to get into the playoffs to make some waves. That extra bit of motivation could make Minnesota an even scarier opponent.

The schedule

Thursday, April 30

Game 1: Ottawa at Boston (Tsongas Center) at 7 p.m. ET

Saturday, May 2

Game 1: Minnesota at Montreal (Place Bell) at 2 p.m. ET

Game 2: Ottawa at Boston (Tsongas Center) at 7 p.m. ET

Tuesday, May 5

Game 2: Minnesota at Montreal (Place Bell) at 7 p.m. ET

Thursday, May 7

Game 3: Montreal at Minnesota (Grand Casino Arena) at 7 p.m. ET*

*subject to change pending NHL playoffs

Friday, May 8

Game 3: Boston at Ottawa (Canadian Tire Centre) at 7 p.m. ET

Sunday, May 10

Game 4: Boston at Ottawa (Canadian Tire Centre) at 3 pm.m ET**

**if necessary

Minnesota will have home ice for Game 4 (if necessary) against Montreal. Boston will host Ottawa for Game 5 (if necessary) at the Tsongas Center. Final first round dates and times are to be determined.

How to watch

In Canada, the Montreal-Minnesota series will be available on Prime Video; Boston-Ottawa will air on TSN.

Both semifinals will be available to fans in the United States through local and regional broadcast partners, including NESN/NESN+ for Boston games and FOX 9+ for Minnesota, and on the league’s YouTube channel.

The Walter Cup Finals will air nationally in the U.S. on ION and YouTube. TSN and RDS will air the Finals in Canada.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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