PWHL Final Game 1 Hub: Ottawa Charge vs Minnesota Frost

Okay, this is it. The PWHL is expanding by 33.3% next season, so you've got to strike while the iron's hot.

The second annual battle for the Walter Cup commences tonight between the 3rd and 4th place teams. Your Ottawa Charge, who fumbled at the 1-yard line last season, just barely got into the semi-final on a tiebreaker, and played their best hockey yet to upset the top-seeded Montreal Victoire in 4 games.

Their opponents are the reigning champions in the Minnesota Frost, who have a similar story to tell. Both teams finished with the same number of points, and both pulled off upsets in the same number of games.

Still, there's a stark contrast in the offense and goaltending between the two semi-finals. Gwyneth Philips and Ann-Renee Desbiens allowed a combined 14 goals over 4 games, while the Frost and Scepters goalies (both teams used 2 in the series) allowed 32 over the same span.

So while it's true that 3 different Minnesota skaters have twice as many points as Ottawa's top forwards in Emily Clark and Brianne Jenner, it would be presumptuous to declare this battle as one between an unstoppable force and an immovable object, seeing as how Ottawa won't be facing as tough of a challenge in goal as they did in the semi-final.

Here are the lines from the previous games:

Game Notes:

• Lots of players found the scoresheet in Minnesota's victory over Toronto, but leading the way was top-line forward Taylor Heise, who on top of 6 apples across Games 2-4, scored the series-clinching OT-winning goal. Captain Kendall Coyne Schofield was one of 6 other point-per-game Frost players, and the league's top offensive blueliner Sophie Jacques has also been even more dangerous as of late, with 6 points in 4 games.
• In comparison, Emily Clark and Brianne Jenner lead the Charge with 3 points each. Not bad, but it's only when you consider they also factored into limiting the PWHL's best team to just 6 goals, when you start to feel incredibly optimistic about their chances. In particular, Marie-Philippe Poulin and Laura Stacey had just 2 and 1 points respectively, largely due to the trio of Clark, Gabbie Hughes, and Mannon McMahon. Oh, and also Gwyneth Philips and her .956 save percentage. That helps too.
• Special teams are a somewhat mixed bag, with Ottawa's 11.1% power-play paling in comparison to Minnesota's 55.6%, while their 77.8% penalty kill beats out the latter's 66.7%. This was also true in the regular season, albeit with less exaggerated numbers. It's really more of a small sample size with significantly different finishing and goaltending. In a 4-team playoff like this one, it's much easier for a white-hot goalie to steal a series.
• Speaking of the impending expansion to Seattle and Vancouver, the rules for the expansion draft were released yesterday and good lord, are they ever busted. At the bare minimum, I'd alter it such that the original teams can add a player to their protected list after each selection, not just once after the first two selections.
• It's a 7:00 pm EST start at TD Place tonight, and the game is available on TSN 4 and 5, and will also be streamed on the PWHL's YouTube channel and website (for viewers outside of Canada).