24 Seconds Flip Game 3: Victoire Beat Frost 2-1 and Push Minnesota to the Brink

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Frost had the shots, the early lead and a roaring home building on Thursday night. What they did not have was the 24 seconds that decided Game 3. In that blink early in the second period, the Montréal Victoire scored twice, flipped the PWHL semifinal and left the two-time defending champions staring at elimination. The final was Victoire 2, Frost 1 at Grand Casino Arena, and Montréal now leads the best-of-five series 2-1.

It was not a collapse. It was a punch. Montréal landed it, then spent the rest of the night making sure the Frost could not hit back.

Morin Starts It

Minnesota got exactly the opening it wanted. At 3:22 of the first period, defender Sidney Morin finished a feed from Kendall Coyne Schofield and Lee Stecklein with a shot through traffic and through Ann-Renée Desbiens, an early 1-0 lead for the home team. It was Morin's second goal of the season, and both have come in the playoffs. The Frost were 12-0 when leading after the first period this year, according to the Associated Press, and the building had every reason to believe in the math.

The first period also brought five penalties, two on Minnesota and three on Montréal, and none of the Frost's chances with the extra skater produced a goal. That would become a theme.

Twenty-Four Seconds

Then the second period arrived. At 4:36, Maggie Flaherty, the former Frost defender and Lakeville native who now skates for Montréal, took a shot to the near post, collected her own rebound behind the net and wrapped it around. Maddie Rooney, the Frost goaltender, could not get to the left post in time. Hayley Scamurra, who assisted on the goal, then stole the puck in the corner, skated to the faceoff dot, turned and fired it high to the glove side at the five-minute mark. Two goals, 24 seconds apart. According to the league, that is a PWHL playoff record for the fastest two goals by a team.

"It's always awesome to score, especially in playoffs," Flaherty said afterward, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. "I had family and friends in the crowd, too, so just nice to do it for them."

The Power Play That Wasn't

Here is the number that will haunt Minnesota: 0-for-7. The Frost led the league with a power play that converted 23 percent of the time this season. Montréal had the league's best penalty kill, at 91.8 percent. Something had to give, and it was the Frost.

Montréal killed two full Minnesota power plays in the second period. It survived three more Frost chances in the third, including two after penalties on Nicole Gosling. It blocked 17 Frost shots, nine of them in the final frame. Coach Ken Klee did not pretend there was a secret. "It's a little bit of execution, a little bit of shot selection," he said. "We're holding a little longer and then trying to put a pass to where it was there, two seconds ago."

Desbiens Stands Tall

Desbiens stopped 27 of 28 shots. Rooney stopped 17 of 19. Only one of those numbers tells you how the third period went. The Frost outshot Montréal 11-1 in the third and finished with a 28-19 edge in shots on goal, and they still could not find a way behind a goaltender who, according to the league, has now held them to one goal in 164:02. Montréal allowed Minnesota everything except a goal.

The last gasp came with Rooney pulled and a delay-of-game penalty on Montréal with 18.2 seconds left, giving the Frost a 6-on-4. They won the faceoff. They could not score. The final 18 seconds were the most exciting hockey of the game and the least productive.

"We have to find a way to get behind her," forward Taylor Heise said. "There just has to be more people that are willing to bear down on their sticks and get to it."

History on Both Benches

The record book had plenty to say about this one. Montréal won in regulation for the first time in 10 all-time playoff games. It won on the road for the first time in four tries. It took a series lead for the first time in three postseason appearances, and the Victoire have now won all three games at Grand Casino Arena this season.

For Minnesota, it was only the second playoff game the Frost have dropped at home, and the first game they have lost this season after leading at the first intermission. Forward Britta Curl-Salemme returned to the lineup after missing Game 2 on a suspension for an illegal check to the head in Game 1, while defender Natalie Buchbinder missed her third straight playoff game with a lower-body injury.

The Series So Far

Game 1 was a barnburner, a 5-4 Frost win in overtime. Game 2 was the opposite: a 1-0 Montréal win in triple overtime, with Marie-Philip Poulin scoring at 4:02 of the third extra period and Rooney making 51 saves in defeat. Game 3 was somewhere in the middle, a tight game that turned in a heartbeat.

The math is not kind to Minnesota. According to the league, the team that wins Game 3 of a PWHL series tied 1-1 has gone on to win all four such series in league history. But the Frost have been here before. They reverse-swept Toronto in the 2024 semifinals, a fact the Frost will lean on.

What Comes Next

The schedule is brutal. Game 4 is on Friday night, May 8, less than 24 hours after the final horn, in what The Hockey News noted will be the first back-to-back playoff games in PWHL history. A loss ends the Frost's season. A win sends the series back to Montréal for a deciding Game 5, scheduled for May 11.

Heise called the back-to-back scheduling "a little inappropriate, honestly," noting that the other semifinal series had six days between games. But she said she believed in her team's ability to bounce back. "When we got in the locker room, everyone was mad," she said. "And you should be, because you're not an athlete at a high level if you're not mad after a loss like that."

The Close

A season can turn on 24 seconds. Montréal found them. Minnesota has less than 24 hours to find a few of its own.

Photo Credit: Ariana Golemis/Undrafted