Pannek, Heise Set Records, but Frost Stumble in 5-4 Loss to Seattle
Pannek and Heise’s record-setting night wasn’t enough as the Frost dropped a 5-4 decision to Seattle.
By Robert Brent
The Minnesota Frost traveled to Seattle on Wednesday night for the penultimate matchup of the regular season. The matchup was Minnesota’s first at Climate Pledge Arena since the second game of the season on November 28th. The Frost defeated Seattle 3-0 in that matchup.
Minnesota is 3-0 against Seattle this season, outscoring the Torrent 13-3.
With the Frost already locked in to third place and the Torrent out of playoff contention, the game served mostly as an opportunity for Minnesota to sharpen its performance before the postseason. Head coach Ken Klee spoke about the importance of the team staying at the top of their game heading into the Walter Cup playoffs.
“We’re looking forward to finishing these final two games on a high note. We know Seattle will be giving it their all for the final points of the season, and we are prepared for that,” Klee said. With that in mind, this is also the time for us to focus on fine-tuning our own habits and details before the playoffs.”
Recap
Nicole Hensley got the start in net for the Frost. Hensley was making her first start since April 15th. Hannah Murphy stood across the ice, making the 12th start of her season for the Torrent.
Minnesota got on the board early in the game with a goal from Taylor Heise. Heise’s tally was her 12th of the season and 29th point, tying teammate Kelly Pannek for the league lead in points. Katy Knoll and Kendall Cooper registered assists on the play.
Seattle answered on a power play 14:12 into the period. Aneta Tejralová scored her second goal of the season to bring the game back to even score. The 1-to-1 deadlock continued throughout the remainder of the first period.
The Frost broke the tie early in the second period, with Grace Zumwinkle labeling a shot past the Seattle goaltender. Zumwinkle’s goal was her 13th of her notable comeback season. While Zumwinkle scored, the play was also noteworthy due to Kelly Pannek’s assist.
With the assist, Pannek registered her 30th point of the season, the most any player has logged in the PWHL’s short history.
Roughly halfway through the period, The Torrent flipped the script with two quick goals from Alex Carpenter and Gabrielle David. Seattle’s two goals came just 11 seconds apart to give the Torrent the lead.
Minnesota had the chance to tie the game late in the period after earning a power play opportunity on a holding call. Taylor Heise scored 25 seconds into the extra-attacker opportunity to bring the game to a 3-3 tie.
Neither team scored in the remainder of the period, setting up a tie game going into the third period.
Seattle broke the ice in the third period early with a goal from Hilary Knight just 2:29 into the third period. The goal was Knight’s fifth of the season.
Anna Wilgren scored again to push Seattle’s lead to two goals with roughly eight minutes remaining in the final period.
Minnesota pushed for the remainder of the game and was even able to score when Kelly Pannek banged a puck in from a net-front scramble with an empty net. Unfortunately, Pannek’s goal came a little too late and Seattle held on for the 5-4 victory.
Key Takeaways
Record Breakers
While Minnesota skated away empty-handed Wednesday night, there were still some things to celebrate for the Frost. Mainly, two forwards broke the PWHL single-season scoring record.
Before this season, Hilary Knight and Sarah Fillier held the record with 29 points. Taylor Heise broke the 30-point barrier on Wednesday with her two goals. Heise has been a star since she arrived in the league, but this season has been a whole other level. The Lake City native is tied for league lead in assists with 17. Meanwhile, her 13 goals are a career high.
Kelly Pannek also broke the record Wednesday night and established herself as the new high mark with her 32nd point of the season on her late goal. Pannek has dominated the league this season, currently leading in goals (15) and tied for the lead in assists (17).
Pannek has long been one of the league’s most valuable two-way players, but this season she broke out as the game’s most prolific scoring threat as well.
No matter how the season ends, Heise and Pannek’s accomplishments are major milestones for the organization.
One Game Remaining to Round into Form
With Wednesday’s loss to Seattle, the Frost now find themselves with just one game before the postseason. Unfortunately, they’re not currently in the form they’d probably like to be heading into the Walter Cup Playoffs.
The Frost’s recent three-game losing streak is the only three-game stretch of the season in which they haven’t gained any points in the standings, with all three games ending in regulation. The team has also lost six of its last eight games.
The Frost played well during several stretches of Wednesday night’s matchup, but they didn’t get the result they wanted. Still, Minnesota outshot Seattle 42-28 and pushed hard at the end of the game. If they play that well against Vancouver in the final game of their season, they’ll have a good chance at entering the postseason on a high note.
