Five Takeaways from Week 7 of the PWHL: Boston, Toronto climb, but Minnesota struggles

Only half a dozen games this past week, but there was lots of things to take away from Week 7 of the PWHL. In fact, here’s five takeaways (see what I did there?) as each team in the league reaches the halfway mark of the PWHL’s inaugural season.

1. Boston making noise

How did Boston end up playing in three of the league’s six games this past week? Either way, they secured two big wins, including a 2-0 victory against the formerly top-ranked Minnesota last Sunday.

Can we talk about Ariel Frankel? My colleague Tyler Kuehl named her one of this week’s three stars, and deservedly so. Playing all three games this week, she stopped 29, 29 and 41 (!) shots, respectively. Her game on Sunday against Minnesota was one of the best goaltending performances of the year.

2. Vive le Montreal!

Does anybody need a ladder? Because Montreal is climbing up the standings. Hey oh! No but seriously, this team overcame some early season struggles and now sits atop the league standings, bumping the once-almighty Minnesota.

Claire Dalton scored a hat trick in their 6-3 win over Ottawa last Saturday, one of which was Montreal’s first jailbreak goal of the season. Dalton was named one of Kuehl’s three stars of the week, and we can see why.

With all the talent this team possesses at every position, it’s hard not to see them competing for the league’s first title at the end of the season.

3. Big Smoke making big noise

Speaking of teams climbing the standings, Toronto is on one heck of a heater. Winning five straight and six of their last seven, taking their one and only game last week on Friday against New York 2-1 in a shootout.

Natalie Spooner didn’t add to her league-leading 10 goals but she scored twice in penalties to seal it for the club. Kristen Campbell continues her bounce back season, stopping 27 shots and bumping her save percentage to .918.

If this team wants to be at the top of the standings come playoff time, they’ll need the reset of their lineup to step it up offensively, with the next leading scorer, Hannah Miller, only having three goals.

4. What’s the deal with New York?

I hope you read that headline in Jerry Seinfeld’s voice, because I wrote it with that in mind. They squeak out a shootout win against Montreal on Wednesday but drop one in extra time against Toronto on Friday.

Alex Carpenter continues to be an offensive force, and their offense is more balanced than some of the other teams in the league, with six players averaging at least 0.5 PPG through the first half of the season.

But they’re currently fifth in a six-team league and need to start winning games in regulation, because they’re leaving points on the table.

5. February can’t end soon enough for Minnesota

It felt like Minnesota sat atop the league standings for nearly the entire first half of the season. But with losses in three of their five games throughout the month, including two straight, they need to tighten up their game.

What’s most frustrating is that they haven’t scored more than two goals in a game since Jan. 27 when they lost 4-3 to Boston. That’s six straight games. Nicole Hensley and her .940 SV% can only take you so far before you need some offense, and it can’t all come from a rookie in Grace Zumwinkle.

They host Toronto on Tuesday, it should be a great test for two teams desperate to find some secondary scoring.