By Canadian Press

Jaques scores twice, Minnesota beats Boston 3-0 to even PWHL final

May 21, 2024 | 9:20 PM

LOWELL, Mass. (AP) — Michela Cava and Sophie Jaques scored less than two minutes apart late in the first period and Minnesota beat Boston 3-0 on Tuesday night to even the PWHL championship series at a game apiece.

Nicole Hensley made 20 saves in relief of Maddie Rooney, who was in net the previous five games, two of them shutouts.

“It feels amazing (to get the shutout),” Hensley said. “Obviously Maddie has been carrying our team, it’s nice to be able to help out our team and give her a little break.

“It’s huge to get a split on the road, that’s what you’re looking to do in the playoffs. I’m excited to get back to Minnesota and our fans.”

Minnesota head coach Ken Klee didn’t hesitate to put Hensley in net for Game 2.

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“We have two great goalies. All year we’ve kind of rotated back and forth. Obviously, Maddie (Rooney) got hot in the first round so it was tough to take her out, but we knew we could go back to Nicole at any point, and she would be ready to go.

“And obviously, she played fantastic for us tonight.”

The Walter Cup series moves to Minnesota for the next two games, the first on Friday night.

Cava opened the scoring at 14:25 with her second playoff goal. That was quickly followed by Jaques skating in from the point before letting a wrist shot fly from the faceoff circle to beat Aerin Frankel at 16:21.

Jaques added an empty-netter with 2 1/2 minutes left as Minnesota ended Boston’s streak of six-straight wins and 12-straight one-goal games, including four in the playoffs.

Frankel made 20 saves.

Boston coach Courtney Kessel thought it was a great battle between two good teams.

“They capitalized and we didn’t. You can’t come into a championship thinking you’re just going to sweep, so we’re ready for a battle and that’s what we saw tonight,” said Kessel.

Boston won Sunday’s opener in the best-of-five series, 4-3.

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AP hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/hockey

The Associated Press