The first three games of Minnesota’s best-of-five Professional Women’s Hockey League semifinal playoff series against Toronto featured a shutout, with Toronto winning the first two games and Minnesota the third.

The pattern continued Wednesday night at Xcel Energy Center, but this time it took two overtimes to declare a winner.

Minnesota’s Claire Botorac scored at 4:27 of the second overtime as Minnesota beat Toronto, 1-0.

Butorac banged in the rebound of a shot from the point that caromed into the slot off the back boards.

Minnesota’s win sets up a deciding Game 5 on Friday night at Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto. The eventual series winner will play Boston in a best-of-five series for the inaugural PWHL championship.

“Honestly, my linemates did most of the work,” Butorac said of the winning goal. “I got in on the good change from the line before us, and I picked up that rebound in the front of the net.

“We knew it was going to be a dirty goal. Just happy to finish.”

Minnesota coach Ken Klee commended his team for finding a way to tie the series after losing the first two games and facing elimination.

“When you’re season’s on the line and you’re back at home, that’s a good feeling,” Klee said. “You can take it as pressure or, hey, we’ve played well at home all year. I think breaking through in Game 3 was good for our confidence and being excited to play hockey, knowing we can win games.

“Tonight, I loved our first period, I loved our third period. They took it to us a little in the second, which you’re going to expect. They’re a good team. But I’m super proud of our team. Even when we gave up chances we kept going, we stayed positive.”

Toronto played without Natalie Spooner, the league’s leading scorer, who sustained a knee injury in Game 3. Spooner will miss the remainder of the postseason.

Toronto’s offense definitely was limited. It managed only 11 shots on goal through three periods, while Minnesota had 23.

Neither team was able to produce much offense in a scoreless first period, with Minnesota holding a 5-3 edge in shots on goal. Minnesota had the two best scoring chances of the period, and they came from its top line.

Grace Zumwinkle fired a slap shot from the top of the right-wing circle at 11:39 that got through Toronto goaltender Kristen Campbell, but the puck slid just wide of the far post. With just over four minutes to play in the period, Campbell made a good stop on a shot from in tight by Taylor Heise.

Toronto put on some offensive pressure early in the second period and came close to taking the lead when Hannah Miller’s shot from the slot hit the outside of the left post.

Minnesota went on the first power play of the game at 3:22 of the period, but it lasted only 55 seconds, when Denisa Krizova was sent off for tripping.

It proved to be another period dominated by tight checking. Toronto had six shots on goal in the period, Minnesota four.

Minnesota got another power-play opportunity at 6:57 of the third period, but it was Toronto that got the best scoring opportunity. Minnesota goaltender Maddie Rooney made a clutch left pad save to deny Kaitlin Willoughby from in tight.

Minnesota defender Sophie Jaques got a good scoring chance 13 minutes into the period, but Campbell stopped her with a glove save on a rising shot.

Minnesota outshot Toronto 14-2 in the third period.

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Five Omaha pitchers combined to hold the St. Paul SaInts to four hits while striking out 12 in a 6-0 win Wednesday night at CHS Field, keeping St. Paul from its first three-game winning streak of the season.

Storm Chasers starting pitcher Luis Cessa allowed two hits and struck out out five with one walk over five innings, and he was followed by an equally dominant stretch of relievers: Walter Pennington (one inning, one hit, three strikeouts), Evan Sisk (one inning, no hits, one strikeout), Carlos Hernandez (one inning, one hit, two strikeouts) and Will Klein (one inning, 0 hits, one strikeout).

The Storm Chasers scored five runs in the second inning, sending nine hitters to the plate against Saints starter Louie Varland. Varland pitched five innings, allowing six runs (five earned) on seven hits with six strikeouts and one walk.

The Saints loaded the bases against Pennington in the sixth inning, but he struck out two to end the threat.

Twins center fielder Byron Buxton, in the first game of a rehab stint after being out since May 1 with knee pain, started in center field and went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts.

DaShawn Keirsey Jr. went 2 for 3 with a double for the Saints.

The Minnesota United-Los Angeles Galaxy match Wednesday pitted the two teams tied for second place in the Western Conference.

They were locked in a back-and-forth battle befitting how close they were in the standings.

The Loons led 1-0 at halftime, L.A. stormed back to go up 2-1 after 70 minutes before United defender Kervin Arriaga’s header in the 80th minute made for a 2-2 draw at Allianz Field.

Both clubs came into the match with 20 points. MNUFC (6-2-3) is unbeaten in four straight games, while Galaxy (5-2-6) are winless in four in a row.

Joseph Rosales’ corner kick found Arriaga at the back post. The pair of Hondurans also connected on a very similar goal in the 2-1 win over Atlanta United in the previous game May 4.

Loons captain Michael Boxall identified Tuesday a need to force Galaxy’creative attacking midfielder Riqui Puig into wide spaces. But the L.A. attacking midfielder was allowed to go straight down the middle of the field, and he laid it off for Diego Fagundez to score in the 68th minute.

The Loons established a very high 3-5-2 press in the first half. L.A. had 58 percent possession in the first half, but it was unthreatening without a single shot.

MNUFC’s aggression forced Puig to drop deeper and deeper to get the ball, and the Loons’ reading of passing lanes snuffed out attacks before they were able to begin.

MNUFC had seven shots to zero for the Galaxy in the first half, but L.A. came out much stronger in the second half.

In the 61st minute, Puig sent a through ball to Gabriel Pec, and he sent a cross for Dejan Joveljic to score the equalizer.

The Loons scored first with a long-range strike by Bongi Hlongwane in the 31st minute. The South African, who hadn’t scored since March, had his shot glance off the cross bar and downward. It wasn’t ruled a goal on the field, but upon video review, it was determined to have crossed the line.

Briefly

United unveiled a Minnesota Soccer Spotlight area of Allianz Field on Wednesday, crediting homegrown signings and current players on MNUFC and MNUFC2. The current list of players includes Devin Padelford, Caden Clark, Loic Mesanvi, Rory O’Driscoll, Kage Romanshyn, Fred Emmings and Patrick Weah. … The Loons’ Under-19 went 3-0-0 in the MLS Next Flex tournament last week and qualified for the MLS NEXT Cup playoffs in Nashville, Tenn., from June 15-23. Shattuck-St. Mary’s U19 also qualified for those playoffs. The U17s and U15s each went 1-1-1 during group stage of MLS NEXT Flex. … MNUFC honored members of the St. Olaf men’s soccer team during pregame Wednesday. The Oles won the Division III men’s soccer championship in December.

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Try as they might, there was nothing Twins pitchers could do on Wednesday night to stymie Yankees star Aaron Judge.

The superstar was a one-man wrecking crew, blasting a home run to Target Field’s third deck in left field, smacking three doubles and collecting a walk in the Yankees’ 4-0 win over the Twins.

His first-inning home run off Pablo López, who gave up a season-high 10 hits but minimized the damage for the most part, traveled 467 feet. It was the 10th-longest home run hit at Target Field in the Statcast era.

Two innings later, Judge led off the third with a double to center and came around to score on a Giancarlo Stanton base knock.

And in the seventh, Judge drove in Juan Soto with a double that center fielder Willi Castro broke in for initially before it flew over his head.

It was a second consecutive tough day in the outfield for Castro, who was directly responsible for the Yankees’ second run of the game.

With the bases loaded in the second inning, Anthony Volpe hit a routine fly ball toward Castro, who caught it and then started trotting toward the dugout.

Problem was, Castro had lost track of how many outs there were in the inning. That was the second out, and Castro’s mistake allowed Gleyber Torres to score easily from third without a throw home.

Castro, clearly frustrated with himself, caught the third out of the inning, too, and then chucked the ball up to an advertisement at the top of the stands in anger.

While his mental mistake was costly, it was hardly the only issue for the Twins on a night where they finished with just four hits, the same number as Judge.

They loaded the bases in the second inning on an error and two walks but were unable to capitalize on their best opportunity against Yankees starter Marcus Stroman.

An inning later, Edouard Julien led off with a double, but they were unable to advance him home. It looked as if they might have a situation with runners on the corners and just one out when Ryan Jeffers looked as if he beat out an infield hit, but he was ruled out upon replay review.

Before the results of the review was revealed, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli emerged from the dugout and had an animated discussion with the umpires.

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