Sidney Morin Snipes Twice As Frost Stay Alive With 3-1 Win Over Victoire
PWHL Montreal Victoire

Sidney Morin Snipes Twice As Frost Stay Alive With 3-1 Win Over Victoire

Published on May 8, 2026 under Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL)
Montreal Victoire News Release


ST. PAUL, MN - Sidney Morin scored twice in less than four minutes midway through the third period to tie the game and give the Minnesota Frost a lead they would not relinquish, skating to a 3-1 win over the Montréal Victoire to stave off elimination Friday night at Grand Casino Arena. After two games in two nights in St. Paul, the series will be decided in Game 5 of the best-of-five semifinal on Monday night at Place Bell, with the winner advancing to the PWHL Walter Cup Finals. Scoreless through two periods, Maureen Murphy gave the Victoire the lead early in the third period when she buried a rebound on a Hayley Scamurra wraparound chance at 1:13. Both of Morin's goals were seeing-eye shots from long range at 8:05 and then on the power play at 12:01, giving the defender a playoff-high four goals in the series. Kelly Pannek iced the game with a nearly 200-foot shot into the empty net at 18:43, her second point of the night to share the playoff lead with four, after leading the regular season with a record 33. Frost defender Mae Batherson also had a two-point game with a pair of helpers, and Maddie Rooney picked up her first career assist to go along with a 29-save victory for the two-time champions. Ann-Renée Desbiens stopped 28 shots in defeat after limiting the Frost to one goal for a stretch of 212:07 in three games as the Victoire are still one win away from their first finals appearance.

QUOTES

Minnesota Head Coach Ken Klee on Maddie Rooney's back-to-back performances in goal: "She's been great; she's given us a chance to win every night. For our goaltenders, that's what we expect of both of them, and they've done a great job for us all year. Obviously, Maddie's been carrying the ball and giving us a chance to win, so it's tough to take her out when she's so focused and playing so well."

Frost defender Sidney Morin on what experience she brings to the postseason run: "I think I spoke to it a little yesterday, but I've been playing this game for a long time, and I'm an older player in this league. I think I have a lot of experience, and these big moments don't scare me, and I think that's making all the difference right now."

Montréal Head Coach Kori Cheverie on the shift of momentum in the third period: "I loved our play when we were ahead, and I thought that we grabbed the momentum actually there for a bit, and it did tilt at one point after we had scored. I didn't think we stuck to our game plan well enough at that time, and a good team on the other side is going to make you pay."

Victoire forward Maureen Murphy on the great goaltending in this series: "I think it's something that we're up against all season long, not just Maddie Rooney, even though she's been playing extremely well. We have a good goalie on the other side every single game. And that's one of the benefits of this league. It's also what makes it really hard to score goals. So yes, Maddie has been fantastic, and so is Ann-Renée (Desbiens), but I don't think it's anything different. And then even the past two playoffs, the past two years, we've been against good goalies. So I think we're ready for it, and we just need to do a better job of getting in front of her eyes and taking them away, because if not she is going to stop the puck."

NOTABLES

Minnesota is now 5-0 all-time in the playoffs when facing elimination, previously erasing a 2-0 deficit in the 2024 semifinals against Toronto and winning the decisive Game 5 of the inaugural season finals against Boston.

Monday will be the third Game 5 in PWHL playoff history with Minnesota winning each of the previous two on the road in 2024 against Toronto and Boston.

The Frost improved to 8-2 in playoff games at Grand Casino Arena, while the Victoire are 1-4 all-time in playoff road games.

This was the first game of the series decided by multiple goals. During the regular season, Minnesota ranked third with 11 multi-goal wins, while Montréal suffered just one multi-goal loss in their season opener to Boston.

Including tonight, the Frost are 14-3-2-1 this season when scoring three or more goals in a game, while the Victoire are 0-1-2-3 when allowing three or more goals.

The Victoire scored first for the second time in the series and are tied with Boston with 23 total game-opening goals in the entire season.

Minnesota went 1-for-3 on the power play tonight after 13 scoreless opportunities with the player advantage since midway through Game 1, including a record 0-for-7 in Game 3.

Sidney Morin's four goals in four games of the series tied her total across 84 career regular-season games, scoring her pair on a game and season-high six shots on goal. The native of Minnetonka, MN, became the first defender to score four goals in a playoff series, tying the four goals Frost alternate captain Lee Stecklein had in eight postseason games in 2025. It's also the third two-goal playoff performance by a rearguard, following Stecklein in Game 2 of the 2025 semifinal series against Toronto and Sophie Jaques in Game 2 of the inaugural season finals against Boston.

Maddie Rooney became the first goaltender in PWHL history to record 10 career playoff wins and the first to record an assist in postseason action. Four of her 10 wins have come when the Frost have been facing elimination, with the previous three earned in the 2024 semifinals against Toronto. Including tonight, she has allowed one or fewer goals in nine of her 14 career playoff starts.

Kelly Pannek recorded her first goal and second multi-point game of the series after contributing two assists in Game 1. The league's top regular-season scorer is up to 10 multi-point games across the entire campaign, most in the PWHL, and has surpassed double-digits in career playoff points with 11 (3G, 8A) in 22 games.

Mae Batherson picked up her first two career playoff points with a pair of assists, including one on the power play for her seventh this season with the player advantage. The second-year defender had three multi-point games during the regular season, including two assists in the Frost's final game against Vancouver.

Maureen Murphy snapped a seven-game goalless drought with her first point of the series and now has goals in three straight playoffs. Her last playoff goal came in Montréal's 2-1 loss in Game 4 of last season's semifinal series against Ottawa. The Victoire forward now has six career playoff points, including four goals in 11 games.

Hayley Scamurra has points in consecutive contests with an assist tonight following her goal and an assist in Game 3, marking her fifth point streak as a member of the Victoire. Her three playoff points in four games with Montréal triples the lone assist she recorded in four playoff games last season with Toronto.

Ann-Renée Desbiens surrendered two goals against the Frost for the first time in four games this season at Grand Casino Arena. Despite the loss, tonight's .933 save percentage was still her sixth best in 11 career playoff starts and one of 27 games in 29 total starts in 2025-26 where she limited the opposition to no more than two goals.

Britta Curl-Salemme chipped in her first point of the series and first career playoff assist after setting a PWHL single-season record with 18 helpers in 30 games. The second year forward had three goals in seven playoff games for the Frost in 2025.

Samantha Cogan recorded her first point in 10 games as a member of the Frost, signing with the team in March ahead of the roster freeze. This was also her first career playoff point in nine appearances after playing in all five games of the inaugural season semifinals for Toronto against Minnesota, and first PWHL point since scoring a goal with Toronto on May 5, 2024.

Taylor Heise, Laura Stacey and Grace Zumwinkle all had four shots on goal tonight and are tied for the playoff lead with Boston's Alina Müller with 16. Victoire rookie Nicole Gosling also had four to bring her playoff total to 12, three behind Morin's 15 for most by a defender.

Natalie Buchbinder was left off the Frost lineup for a fourth straight game, listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

THREE STARS

1. Sidney Morin (MIN) 2G 2. Maddie Rooney (MIN) 29/30 SV 3. Maureen Murphy (MTL) 1G

NEXT GAME

Game 5: Monday, May 11 at Montréal at 7 p.m. ET

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Professional Women's Hockey League Stories from May 8, 2026


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