Nearly 18 minutes into the second overtime Sunday night at Xcel Energy Center, Minnesota finally got what it so desperately wanted. An announced crowd of 13,104 finally got what it came for and was calling for throughout the night.

Or so they thought.

Minnesota defender Sophie Jaques scored from the slot to apparently give Minnesota a 1-0 victory over Boston and the first Professional Women’s Hockey League championship. With Minnesota players celebrating along the boards to the right of the Boston net, it soon became clear that the play was being reviewed for possible goaltender interference.

A few anxious minutes later, the goal was wiped out. Just over a minute later, Boston scored to pick up the 1-0 victory and keep its season alive, leaving “The State of Hockey” in a state of shock.

A deciding Game 5 of the best-of-five series will be played in Boston on Wednesday.

“That one hurt,” said Minnesota coach Ken Klee. “When the confetti’s going and the gloves are coming off — then you have to try to refocus real quick.”

The overturned goal was set up by a strong move to the net by Minnesota center Taylor Heise down left wing. As Heise leaned to her right to cut in front of the net, she lost her footing and went sliding into Boston goaltender Aerin Frankel.

Frankel was down on the ice when Jacques swooped in to bury the loose puck.

Klee said it was a call that could have gone either way.

“In real time it doesn’t look like (interference),” he said, “but when you slow it down and see the replay, she definitely loses an edge. It’s tough to tell if because of a Boston players’ stick or she just loses an edge.

“It’s just one of those things that happens. We had lots of chances to win the game. For us, we get to play another game. That’s the way you’ve got to look at it.”

Boston’s game-winner came on a high wrist shot from the slot by Alina Muller that beat Minnesota goaltender Nicole Hensley.

The home team’s celebration, while appropriate, proved to be premature. Time will tell if the sting of what came next will linger.

“It’s a high of a high to us having to balance the situation, pick up our sticks and get back to work,” said Minnesota captain Kendall Coyne Schofield. “It’s not easy to come back from by any means, but that’s what we had to do.”

Minnesota center Kelly Pannek was on the ice for the first shift after the goal was disallowed, and she said she didn’t notice any shift in momentum.

“It was just a hockey play that happens after two overtimes,” Pannek said. “I think we did a good job resetting. Sometimes the bounces don’t go your way, which wasn’t for us tonight.”

Boston played with the desperation needed from a team on the brink of elimination, but Minnesota matched that effort. Both teams had a number of good scoring chances throughout regulation and into the overtimes, with Hensley and her counterpart, Aerin Frankel, making a number of big saves.

“I don’t think it’s just tonight, I think it’s been that way all year,” Coyne Schofield said of the strong goaltending. “You look at our last series with Toronto and Boston’s series with Montreal, you’re not seeing a lot of high-scoring games. So you’ve got to expect that.

“You’ve got to be OK winning 1-0.”

Minnesota would have been OK with winning 1-0. And before the cruelest of twists, it thought it had done just that.

Briefly

Minnesota general manager Natalie Darwitz was inducted into the International Hockey Federation Hall of Fame on Sunday in Prague, Czechia. Merlin Ravndalen, Darwitz’s coach at Eagan High School, attended the ceremony in her place.

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Three people were injured in a drive-by shooting during a graduation party in St. Paul Sunday night, the third shooting in less than 24 hours at gatherings in St. Paul and North St. Paul.

“Investigators will be looking for connections to other incidents similar to this,” said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman, adding it was unknown as of Sunday night whether there are correlations.

The Sunday night shooting happened on the Greater East Side during a graduation party at a home in the 1700 block of East Rose Avenue. Someone fired shots from a black sport-utility vehicle as it drove by about 7:15 p.m.

A woman was shot in the leg, a man was shot in the stomach and another woman had a graze wound to her head, Ernster said. They were being treated at Regions Hospital.

No one was immediately under arrest and police said anyone with information can call investigators at 651-266-5858.

The earlier weekend shootings happened about 10:45 p.m. Saturday in North St. Paul, when four people were injured at a graduation party at Casey Lake Park, and before 1 a.m. Sunday when three young women were hurt during a gathering at Crosby Farm Regional Park in St Paul.

Shootings and homicides have been trending down in St. Paul this year. There were 29 nonfatal shootings in St. Paul as of May 20, compared to 49 during the same time last year, 76 in 2022 and 81 in 2021, according to the police department.

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Basketball is a team game, but the bulk of Sunday’s kudos need to be directed at Kayla McBride.

That happens when you have an historic night.

McBride scored a season-high 31 points as the Minnesota Lynx won 92-79 at Atlanta.

Minnesota’s shooting guard was perfect from the field until about two minutes remained, finishing 10 of 12 overall. She made the first six of her seven 3-point attempts. And she was 5 for 5 at the free-throw line. She did not commit a foul and had just one turnover in playing 31 minutes, 36 seconds.

“This is just crazy for her position: first player in league history to score more than 30 points, shooting better than 80% from the field, 100% from the foul line, making six or more threes or making five or more free-throw attempts,” said coach Cheryl Reeve. “We needed it.”

McBride averaged 13.8 points in the first four Lynx games.

“You don’t walk into a game knowing, like, I’m going to do all these crazy things. I just wanted to be aggressive from the jump. I felt good when my first shot went down,” McBride said. “I have a lot of faith and confidence in my shot and I was just doing it. I was enjoying it. My teammates were finding me in good spots. Just having fun.”

McBride’s point total is the most in her four seasons in Minnesota and ties the second-highest of her career. She had 38 while playing for Las Vegas on June 27, 2018.

“When you see the first one go down, the hoop kind of gets bigger. So just enjoying it. You never know when you’re going to have opportunities to do something like that again. I was just having fun, being aggressive, confident and letting it fly.”

Seeing her teammate’s success, Napheesa Collier said the offensive game plan became simple.

“Pass her the ball. She was so hot it was crazy. She was just throwing it up and like swish, swish, swish. It was just so fun to see, Collier said. “Mac might not think about it, but on the bench I was like we need to get you to 30. … Six of seven threes is just wild; 10 for 12 is a crazy stat.”

Up by four at the break, the Lynx (4-1) pulled away in the third quarter. They outscored Atlanta 26-12 in those 10 minutes by making 8 of 13 shots, including 6 of 9 from deep.

Atlanta (2-2) entered the game as one of the league’s top 3-point shooting teams, but made just 6 of 22 attempts.

“Our defense has put us in position to win every game,” Reeve said. The Lynx have the league’s top defensive rating at 91.2. Seattle is second at 94.6.

Down by 18 to start the fourth quarter, Atlanta got within 11 with McBride and Collier getting a much-deserved breather. Reinserted into the game midway through the frame, McBride stroked another trey less than a minute later.

Collier, knocked to the floor on too many shots against a Dream squad that likes to be physical, finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

Alanna Smith finished with 17 points, five assists and four rebounds. Courtney Williams added nine points, six rebounds and five assists.

A shooting in St. Paul injured three young women early Sunday, police said.

It happened at Crosby Farm Regional Park off Shepard Road, about two hours after four people were injured in a shooting in a North St. Paul park. St. Paul Sgt. Mike Ernster, a department spokesman, said he didn’t have information Sunday night about whether they were connected.

In the St. Paul incident, one woman was shot in the leg, another had a gunshot wound to her cheek and the third had a hand injury that could be a graze wound, according to Ernster. They are 18 to 22.

Police were called to the shooting just before 1 a.m. Sunday. There was a gathering of people when multiple shots were fired, Ernster said based on preliminary information. No one was under arrest as of Sunday night, and police are investigating the circumstances of the shooting.

Investigators ask anyone with information to call them at 651-266-5858.

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