5 takeaways from Week 3 of the PWHL season: Poulin dominates, New York bounces back and a shootout

We’ve made it to the end of the third week of the Professional Women’s Hockey League season, and this one was filled with comebacks, multi-goal games, big saves and yes, the league’s first shootout.

Let’s take a look at week three.

1. Zumwinkle, Minnesota continue to dominate

We’re three weeks into hockey’s newest professional league. Is it too early to have a powerhouse? Can you be a powerhouse in less than a month? That’s it, I’m saying it: Minnesota is the PWHL’s first powerhouse.

They’re 4-0-1 in their first five games, led by an impressive goaltending duo in Nicole Hensley and Maddie Rooney, who have save percentages of .946 and .943, respectively. Minnesota has also had a number of players contribute at or above a point-per-game pace, including Taylor Heise (three goals and two assists) and Susanna Tapani (two goals and three assists), who scored the overtime-winner against Ottawa last Wednesday.

But the real standout for the league’s top squad is Grace Zumwinkle, who assisted on Tapani’s OT-winner and has five goals in five games, behind only Montreal’s Marie-Philip Poulin in the entire league (Poulin and Montreal have played one more game, FYI). Speaking of which, the two face each other this Wednesday in the State of Hockey.

2. Toronto wins league’s first shootout

It took 15 league games, but fans of the PWHL finally saw their first shootout, and it did not disappoint. It’s been 18 years since the NHL introduced the shootout, and some have worried it’s gotten stale and antiquated. How did the PWHL freshen it up?

By blending the IIHF rules with their own tweaks, making all shootouts a best-of-five and enabling teams to select the same players to shoot again.

Fans in Montreal last Saturday were delighted to see Poulin, fresh off scoring her fifth and sixth goals of the season, including the game-tying goal with 18 seconds left in the third period, shooting four times (!) in the league’s first shootout. However, the Montreal captain was only able to score once, and goals from forward Hannah Miller and defender Lauriane Rougeau sealed the win for Toronto.

Beyond the obvious of Toronto desperately needing a victory, having lost their previous three games by a combined score of 11-4, the shootout itself was exciting, and it gave the league a chance to showcase its skill with players like Poulin and Miller shooting multiple times. As the season progresses, it’ll be interesting to see which players emerge as “shootout specialists.”

3. Speaking of Poulin…

After recording only one assist in her first two games, Poulin has settled in and politely reminded everyone that she’s the best damn player in the world. Entering last week with three goals, Poulin scored the game-winning goal with five minutes left against New York last Tuesday, followed it up with a two-goal performance against Toronto, including the previously mentioned game-tying goal with only seconds on the clock.

I mean, look at that goal. Poulin looked like when a basketball player decides, “I must simply attack the paint and score a basket,” cutting through traffic and crashing the net. If she continues this pace and her teammates follow suit, who can stop Montreal?

4. New York, New York

Sometimes you can play a great game and things don’t go your way. Sometimes you can come back from a two-goal deficit and be tied late in a game. And sometimes, the team you’re playing has someone like Poulin, and things don’t go your way.

If not for Poulin’s exploits, maybe New York would have come away with two or three points and sealed off an impressive comeback. Either way, despite the 3-2 loss to Montreal, fans of the multi-state franchise should be happy with how their team played this week, especially after their 4-1 win over Boston on Saturday.

Goaltender Corinne Schroeder may have a case for being the best netminder in the game, or at least right now, the one on the biggest heater, with a .949 save percentage through four games, as well as a 1.72 goals-against-average. This was as clear as ever in their 4-1 win over Boston, which saw New York surprisingly get outshot by Boston 33-19. Through 60 minutes, Schroeder had to make 32 saves, including this stop on a power play.

5. Attendance continues to soar

Through its first 13 games of the season, more than 65,000 fans had attended PWHL games, averaging over 5,000 on a nightly basis, according to Front Office Sports.

However, the biggest success story in the league is Minnesota, which not only set an attendance record for women’s pro hockey when 13,316 fans attended the team’s home opener, but have contributed over 26,000 fans to games this season — over one-third of the league’s total attendance.

There’s no doubt the numbers will continue to rise as the league settles in and more fans populate the stands. After attending all of Toronto’s home games this season, I can confirm that the excitement from the league’s season opener hasn’t waned. If anything, it has only grown.