What we learned in Week 3 of PWHL action: Poulin takes over, behind Minnesota’s hot start and more

Another week of PWHL games, and another moment for the history books. This time, it was the league’s first-ever shootout between Toronto and Montreal.

Thanks to the league rule that allows a player to take “any number of shots and as often as that shooting team chooses,” we saw Montreal’s captain Marie-Philip Poulin four times in the six-round shootout.

After Poulin’s two-goal night — and the dramatic game-tying goal with 16 seconds in regulation — it was a no-brainer for coach Kori Cheverie to go back to her captain.

“She’s the best player in the world,” she said. “When a player like (Poulin) has the game that she had, it’s a nice luxury … So why not go with the hot hand.”

Kristen Campbell stopped three of Poulin’s four attempts, as well as Tereza Vanišová and Laura Stacey. Hannah Miller scored for Toronto in the third round, but it was 33-year-old Lauriane Rougeau — the Quebec native who spent seven years playing pro hockey in Montreal — with the game-winner.

“I’ve played my entire career in Montreal, it was a sweet moment for sure,” Rougeau said after the game. “(I’m) really going to cherish this moment for a while but very happy for the team win.”

Campbell was the star of the shootout for Toronto with five key stops, and 21 in regulation and overtime to secure Toronto’s first win since Jan. 5. Campbell has had a rocky start to the season, but Saturday’s win in Montreal could prove to be a real springboard for Toronto’s starter.

Let’s get to the takeaways from Week 3 of PWHL action.

Marie-Philip Poulin takes over the game

With the clock winding down in a 3-2 game against Toronto, Marie-Philip Poulin took matters into her own hands.

She picked up the puck in the neutral zone, skated by four of Toronto’s skaters before cutting inside, getting onto the doorstep and beating Campbell to tie the game 3-3 with only 16 seconds remaining in regulation.

By my count, Poulin had the puck on her stick for eight seconds from start to finish. It was her second goal of the game, and she now leads the PWHL with six goals in six games — technically six goals in four games if we take her first two scoreless games into account.

Ça mérite d’être vu malgré la marque finale!

Worth seeing this beauty despite the final score! pic.twitter.com/TlUHR9Vrgl

— PWHL Montréal (@PWHL_Montreal) January 21, 2024

“I honestly just shook my head,” said Montreal defender Erin Ambrose after the game. “The girl is just built different beyond belief. She is the best captain, the best leader I’ve ever had. Marie-Philip Poulin is, I would say, the greatest female hockey player to ever play this game.”

It’s a debate that’s come up often: Who is the GOAT of women’s hockey?

Most players today will tell you it’s Poulin. And that’s not a slight against Hayley Wickenheiser, Cammi Granato or Jayna Hefford. It’s just that this generation is better than the last. And Poulin has been better than virtually everybody for almost a decade.

I’ll open the floor for debate in the comments.

Inside Ken Klee’s start in Minnesota 

The consensus from talking to coaches and general managers around the league is that the teams that come together the quickest in this shortened inaugural season, will do the best.

Thus far, that’s been Minnesota, which sits first in the PWHL and has yet to lose a game in regulation through its first five games. It’s impressive considering the last-minute coaching change to Ken Klee only seven days before Minnesota’s first game.

The change was hard for players who were creating chemistry on different lines and working on a different set of systems under Charlie Burggraf, who left the team in December, citing personal reasons. But, by all accounts, things have been going well.

“He’s been very good, obviously we’ve been winning lots of games,” Tapani said. “He (told) us we don’t have to be perfect right away. At the end of the season, that’s when we want to be the best.”

For Klee, who coached Team USA to back-to-back world championships in 2014 and 2015, having only a week before the start of competitive games is nothing new.

“When you coach the national team you have a week to get ready for a tournament and if you lose a game you could lose a medal so it’s a lot of pressure in a hurry,” he told The Athletic. “So, for me, I know the drill. I’m used to hitting the ground full speed.”

Klee said on his first day with the team he handed out playbooks with the systems he wanted the team to play.

“Here’s your booklet, you better read it, and I’m going to teach it every day,” he told the players. “This is how we’re going to play.”

Objectively, it’s worked well. Minnesota has the most regulation wins in the league (3), the best points percentage (.800) and the best goal differential (+6). Klee has Minnesota playing an uptempo, highly skilled game that focuses on puck possession.

“The teams that have the puck the most, have success,” he explained. “To me, that’s what makes us a successful team. You have to have the personnel to do it — and we have the personnel to do it.”

Ottawa’s growth

On the surface, Ottawa’s five points — tied for last in the PWHL — might be worrisome. If we consider the fact that the team has only played three games, the fewest of any team, and still hasn’t lost a game in regulation, things look OK in the nation’s capital.

After a 3-2 overtime loss to Minnesota on Wednesday, coach Carla MacLeod preached patience as key in the team’s approach.

“We’re just three games in,” she said. “We won’t use that excuse at the 21st game necessarily but right now we’re still young and we’re still learning and in every game, we’ve had moments where we’re really confident and where we waver, but that’s so normal.”

One of the highlights of Ottawa through the first few weeks of the season has been its depth. The team has scored nine goals in three games, by seven different goal scorers — and that doesn’t include goals from Canadian national team stars like Brianne Jenner and Emily Clark, who won’t stay snakebitten for long.

Realistically, every team in the PWHL has depth. But what’s been impressive about Ottawa is that MacLeod has been rolling her four lines and three defense pairs, compared to some teams that have been riding their stars. In Ottawa, 14 players, including goalie Emerance Maschmeyer, have at least one point — the best of any team in the league.

“There are great lines in this league and great players in this league,” said MacLeod. “We want to be a great team in this league.”

Loren Gabel and Alina Müller’s chemistry 

In 2018-19, Loren Gabel and Alina Müller were two of the top players in the NCAA. Gabel, a senior at Clarkson University, won the Patty Kazmaier Award for the top women’s hockey player in the nation. Müller, a rookie at Northeastern, was named a finalist for the award.

Five years later, Gabel and Müller are on Boston’s top line in the PWHL, and they look like one of the more lethal duos in the league. Last week, Müller had three primary assists on three Gabel goals, including the game-winner in Toronto.

On the first goal against Toronto, Müller picks up the loose puck in the Toronto zone and has the impressive awareness to pop the puck off the boards. Gabel said she initially looked to pass back to Müller, but with Natalie Spooner’s backcheck — and Kali Flanagan dropping down to block the sold pass — she decided to take the shot, which went top corner on Kristen Campbell.

Let's take a look at that @LorenGabel snipe again real quick pic.twitter.com/n8qH5e2qTb

— PWHL Boston (@PWHL_Boston) January 18, 2024

Then, in the third period, Müller breaks the puck up the ice, drops it back to Gabel and cuts to the center of the ice to create some space and draw the defense to her. Gabel, again, rips a shot past Campbell.

Confirmed – @LorenGabel is good at hockey pic.twitter.com/NSIYA45r6m

— PWHL Boston (@PWHL_Boston) January 18, 2024

Müller also had the primary assist on Megan Keller’s first-period goal against Toronto, and Gabel’s goal in a 4-1 loss to New York on Saturday afternoon. Müller’s five assists lead the PWHL.

“It’s been amazing,” said Gabel about playing with Müller. “She’s an amazing player. She’s dynamic. Our chemistry is unbelievable after (only) three games.

“It’s just going to go up from here.”

A Gabel–Müller combination was bound to work well for Boston. Müller is a 200-foot player who can drive play, take the shot, or set up her teammates. While Gabel is a fantastic offensive creator with a very dangerous and deceptive shot who has scored everywhere she’s played, whether it be college, the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), or for Team Canada.

Boston is still working out the early season kinks with a 1-1-2 start, but seems like they found something worth sticking with in Müller and Gabel together.

New York’s first hat trick 

Jade Downie-Landry scored New York’s first hat trick on Saturday afternoon to lead her team to a 4-1 win against Boston.

Downie-Landry was the PHF’s rookie of the year last season, and led the Montreal Force in scoring last season. She’s an effective two-way center, which we saw in her first goal that was started by Downie-Landry picking off a poor pass just inside Boston’s zone.

NEW YORK GOAL!
Boston turnover and Downie-Landry doesn't waste the chance pic.twitter.com/kUuh5P8Yfp

— The Ice Garden (@TheIceGarden) January 20, 2024

That she’s a third-line center in New York speaks to the team’s depth up the middle. For the team to be successful, it’s going to need middle-six players like Downie-Landry – not just Alex Carpenter or Jessie Eldridge, who have carried the bulk of the offense — to be productive.

PWHL Standings

Games this week

• Tuesday, Jan. 23: Toronto versus Ottawa at TD Place at 7 pm EST
• Wednesday, Jan. 24: Boston at Ottawa at TD Place at 7 pm EST
• Wednesday, Jan. 24: Montreat at Minnesota at Xcel Energy Center at 7 pm CST
• Friday, Jan. 26: New York at Toronto at Mattamy Athletic Center at 7 pm EST
• Saturday, Jan. 27: Ottawa at Montreal at Place Bell at 3:30 pm EST
• Saturday, Jan. 27: Minnesota at Boston at Tsongas Center at 4 pm EST
• Sunday, Jan. 28: Minnesota at New York at Total Mortgage Arena at 1 pm EST

(Photo of Minnesota Forward Susanna Tapani celebrating her game-winning goal on Jan. 17, 2024: Richard A. Whittaker / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)