ST PAUL, Minn. — High-scoring Toronto forward Natalie Spooner will miss the rest of the Professional Women’s Hockey League playoffs because of a knee injury.
The team put the league's regular-season leading scorer on long-term injured reserve Wednesday after Spooner was injured during a collision with Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle during Game 3 of the teams’ semifinal series Monday. After delivering a clean hit, Zumwinkle appeared to fall awkwardly on the right knee of Spooner, who crawled off the ice and onto the bench before limping down the tunnel in pain.
Spooner, 33, led the PWHL in its inaugural season with 20 goals and 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals were nine more than the next-closest player, one of the reasons she is a leading candidate to win league MVP honors. She led Toronto to the league's best record and top playoff seed.
“It’s a big loss for us," Toronto general manager Gina Kingsbury said in a statement. "Obviously, Natalie has been an important part of our success all year. We have no doubt Natalie will continue to have an impact on our team, just in a different way.”
Toronto leads Minnesota 2-1 in the best-of-five series and can move on to the PWHL final with a road win Wednesday night. Boston already advanced to play for the Walter Cup by beating Montreal in the other semifinal.
In a corresponding roster move, Toronto activated forward Jess Jones, who played five games during the regular season.
After failing to score a goal in the first two games of the series, Minnesota rebounded in Game 3 in front of a home crowd to blank Toronto 2-0 and stave off elimination. The club is determined to deliver a similar effort in Game 4 Wednesday at the 'X' and force a Game 5 in Toronto.
WATCH MORE ON KARE 11+
Download the free KARE 11+ app for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and other smart TV platforms to watch more from KARE 11 anytime! The KARE 11+ app includes live streams of all of KARE 11's newscasts. You'll also find on-demand replays of newscasts; the latest from KARE 11 Investigates, Breaking the News and the Land of 10,000 Stories; exclusive programs like Verify and HeartThreads; and Minnesota sports talk from our partners at Locked On Minnesota.
- Add KARE 11+ on Roku here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Roku Channel Store.
- Add KARE 11+ on Fire TV here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Amazon App Store.
- Learn more about the KARE 11+ app for Apple TV in the Apple App Store.
- Learn more about KARE 11+ here.
Watch more coverage of Minnesota sports:
Watch the latest reports from the KARE 11 sports team in our YouTube playlist: