DOUBLE TROUBLE

Minnesota forces Game 5 in 20T thriller as Toronto plays without scoring champion Spooner

- MARK COLLEY

Natalie Spooner will miss the rest of the playoffs after injuring her knee in Game 3.

Minnesota 1

Toronto 0

2nd Overtime Series tied 2-2

For 27 consecutive games, Toronto never had to play without Natalie Spooner.

The star forward was there game in and game out, scoring more than any other player in the PWHL. She played in all 24 regular-season games and scored 20 goals, nine more than the next-closest shooter, and amassed 27 points — also tops in the league. She added a goal and assist in three playoff games, too.

Then on Monday, disaster struck. Spooner took a nasty hit against the boards in the third period of Game 3 of Toronto’s best-of-five semifinal against Minnesota, crawling off the ice and limping toward the locker room. On Wednesday morning, the news broke: Spooner would be out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.