PWHL Finals Game Four: Wild, Crazy, and Controversial

Oooooh, what a game!

So the PWHL Finals had seen a lot in the first three games, but none of us expected what would go down in Game Four. Here's the stage. It's Game Four in Minnesota. The Minnesota team is up 2-1 in the best-of-five Finals. They have a chance to finish it; bring home a pro hockey championship to the State of Hockey in front of their home fans. The Walter Cup was in the building. Here's what went down.

It was Nicole Hensley for Minnesota against Aerin Frankel for Boston. And those were the two players who stood out all night. 1st period had no power plays, Boston outshot Minnesota 9-8, but it was scoreless after 20. 2nd period was a bit quieter. Minnesota had two power plays, both were killed off. However, Boston had one that was shut down as well. Despite the chances, the shots weren't there. 5-3 advantage for Boston. After 40 minutes, still no score. 3rd period saw Minnesota outshoot Boston 9-5. They wanted to finish it and win it at that very moment. However, Frankel remained strong, as did Hensley. So after 60 minutes, it was Boston 0, Minnesota 0.

For the first time in PWHL Finals history, we have overtime in one of the games. Both teams were unbeaten in playoff overtime; Minnesota had one win, while Boston had won three--all in the Semifinals. Minnesota had some close calls, as did Boston. Despite this, the goalies still stood strong, and the game actually remained scoreless after 80 minutes. Double overtime was more of the same, and it was with about five minutes left in the game's fifth period that I started to sense that I could be watching the longest game in this league's very short history. Then something amazing happened.

Sophie Jaques scored! PWHL Minnesota won the Walter Cup! The ladies celebrated on the ice! They had become champions...

...until they didn't.

Goaltender interference. It was plain as day, too. Frankel was obstructed and could not defend the net. A Boston player did not push Jaques' teammate into Frankel. This was clear GI. This was looked at for a while; after all, this was the Cup clinching goal. Plus, the Minnesota players had thrown their gloves and helmets off in celebration. Imagine the reaction if this was overturned! Sure enough, that's what happened. Goalie interference was called. No goal. So Minnesota's players had to get their gloves and helmets on and continue playing.

Already, the PWHL is better than the NHL when it comes to the face of controversy. I guarantee you, if a Stanley Cup clinching goal was scored and had GI, NHL refs would let that stand even after looking at it. NHL refs are a bit on the lazy side; they want to go home. And it's fitting I mention that considering that we are closing in on the 25th anniversary of Brett Hull's Cup clinching goal, the one where he was in that blue area. At that time, being in that area was illegal, but it was never overturned, and fans in Buffalo have had a chip on their shoulder for a quarter-century because of that.

So all of this happened at 17:26 into the second overtime, and the game continued on after that goal was disallowed. I was drinking in the possibility of a third overtime, but I would only see seventy extra seconds played. Alina Müller's shot at 18:36 went in past Hensley, and Boston won another playoff overtime thriller.

Boston won, 1-0, in double overtime, and the obvious first star of the evening was the game's lone goal scorer, Alina Müller, who has scored Boston's last two goals. In the first overtime, Minnesota outshot Boston 7-5, but in the second overtime, Boston outshot Minnesota 9-5. Overall, each team had 33 shots on goal, but Nicole Hensley only stopped 32 of them, while Aerin Frankel stopped all 33 Minnesota shots for the epic playoff shutout. Marathon overtime games make legends out of the goalies involved, and Game Four of the PWHL Finals was no exception.

So this is it. Boston's win forces a winner-take-all Game Five back in Beantown. That's going to be big. One of these two teams will be etched in stone forever as the first-ever PWHL Champions, the first holders of the Walter Cup. Neither of the Minnesota North Stars' Stanley Cup Final appearances saw a Game Seven, while the Boston Bruins played in the most recent Game Seven in Stanley Cup Final history, a 4-1 loss in Boston. Beantown will play host to a winner-take-all championship game in pro hockey. Will they win it, or will Boston see another disappointment.

The deciding Game Five of the best-of-five PWHL Finals takes place on Wednesday.