Despite losing five straight, Minnesota clinches PWHL playoff spot

ST. PAUL — PWHL Minnesota needed just a single point over its last five games of the 2024 regular season to clinch a playoff spot.

Unfortunately for Minnesota fans, the team lost each and every one of those five games in regulation, earning zero points.

In a lucky turn of fate, the team was still able to clinch the fourth and final playoff position in the PWHL though without earning that single point as Toronto defeated Ottawa, 5-2, on Sunday to eliminate Ottawa from a chance at postseason play.

Toronto earned the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs, followed by Montreal, Boston and Minnesota.

As the top seed, Toronto will choose the opponent that it will face in the league semifinals (either Boston or Minnesota). That decision will be announced on Monday. The semifinals and championship round of the playoffs will both be played as a best-of-five series and the higher seed will have home-ice advantage for Games 1, 2 and 5. Any contests that have overtime will be played with full five-on-five periods until someone scores.

The full PWHL playoff schedule will likely be released once Toronto chooses its opponent for the semifinals.

New York and Ottawa are the two teams that did not qualify for the postseason.