Lee Stecklein leads Frost past Sceptres, even PWHL semifinal 1-1

Defender Lee Stecklein has picked a good time to get her goal-scoring groove on.

She scored twice and assisted on another in the Minnesota Frost's 5-3 road win over the Toronto Sceptres on Friday to even the Professional Women's Hockey League first-round series at 1-1.

The three-time United States Olympian has four points in the first two games of this best-of-five series after scoring three goals in Minnesota's final two regular season games to push the Frost into the playoffs.

"We have a lot of offensive threats and people who must be worried about," the 31-year-old Stecklein said. "This opens up some stuff, and you just have to be ready to take advantage of it. So luckily, it's gone my way so far."

The bevy of big offensive moments in the last two weeks came on the heels of Stecklein returning home after winning her seventh IIHF World Women's Championship gold medal last month. The U.S. defeated Canada 4-3 in overtime in the final on April 20.

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Stecklein tied the game 4:41 into the second period on Friday with a perfect redirect of Kelly Pannek's pass. Less than 10 minutes later Stecklein fired a point shot to put her club ahead 3-1.

"She was outstanding," Minnesota coach Ken Klee said. "Obviously, she's known as a world-class defensive defender. She always has a good stick, good gap and is hard to play against. Tonight, she was feeling it, driving the net with that little tip play.

"It's the playoffs. We have to find different ways to score goals and different people have to contribute. She knows that she exemplifies that and that's why she's one of our leaders and one of our best players. She was awesome."

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