The Minnesota Frost were two minutes away from a third consecutive win, but some late New York magic wrested the victory away on Wednesday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
The Sirens, trailing 2-1 with 3:32 remaining in regulation, pulled goaltender Corinne Schroeder for an added attacker to give the hosts a 6-on-4 advantage with Frost defender Maggie Flaherty serving out the final moments of a boarding penalty.
Minnesota withstood the two-player deficit, but could not emerge unscathed as New York’s Sarah Fillier jammed the puck past Frost netminder Maddie Rooney with her team still playing with an empty net to knot the game 2-2 with just over a minute remaining in the period.
The game went to a scoreless overtime and then seven shootout rounds before the Sirens won it on a goal by Jessie Eldridge.
Minnesota had overcome a 1-0 first-period deficit to take the lead after goals by Kendall Coyne Schofield and Mellissa Channell-Watkins in the second and third period, respectively. Channell-Watkins’ tally was the first goal of her PWHL career.
Rooney made 28 saves in the contest, while her teammates fired 26 shots at the New York net.
Despite the shootout loss, Minnesota remains atop the league with 20 points from 11 games, ahead of both the Montreal Victoire (17 points) and Sirens (16 points).
The Frost remain on the road this week, heading up to Montreal to take on the Victoire once again on Friday night.
Minnesota defeated the team closest to them in the standings, 4-2, in a “PWHL Takeover” game at Ball Arena in Denver, home of the Colorado Avalanche.
That game, which took place at a neutral site nearly 1,000 miles from either team’s home city, drew 14,018 fans setting a U.S. record for attendance at a professional women’s hockey game.
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