Minnesota Frost stay in PWHL playoffs picture with victory over Ottawa Charge

The Minnesota Frost kept their playoff hopes alive with a 3-0 victory over the Ottawa Charge on Thursday in Ottawa.

Kendall Coyne Schofield scored her team-leading 11th goal of the season and Lee Stecklein scored her first two goals of the season as the Frost (41 points) moved within one point of Ottawa for the fourth and final PWHL playoff spot.

“We knew we had a job to get done tonight, and it was win in regulation, and we did that,” Coyne Schofield said on the PWHL’s broadcast.

The victory was just the second in the past six games for the Frost.

The Frost finish the regular season Saturday at Boston and would qualify for the playoffs with a win in regulation. That would give the Frost and Boston 44 points each, and the Frost would win the tiebreaker because they would have more regulation wins. Ottawa plays at Toronto on Saturday.

Any result other than a regulation victory by the Frost on Wednesday would have put Ottawa and Boston in the league’s final two playoff berths.

After a scoreless first period, Coyne Schofield broke the tie with 1:17 left in the second period. The goal was Coyne Schofield’s second career goal (out of 17) against Ottawa.

Stecklein’s first goal of the season extended the Frost’s lead to 2-0 with 14 minutes, 22 seconds remaining in the third period. Stecklein sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 34 seconds remaining. The Charge had pulled goalie Gwyneth Philips with 2:14 left.