Ottawa at Toronto – Mattamy Athletic Centre - 7:00 PM
Watch on TSN
Streaming: YouTube
It's the final day of the regular season. The historic first season of the PWHL will end with a game in Toronto, maybe the last game played at Mattamy, that has implications for the playoffs.
The standings for the league:
| PWHL | GP | GR | PTS | W | OTW | OTL | L | PCT | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| x - PWHL Toronto | 23 | 1 | 44 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 0.638 | 64 | 48 |
| x - PWHL Montreal | 24 | 0 | 41 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 0.569 | 60 | 57 |
| x - PWHL Boston | 24 | 0 | 35 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 0.486 | 50 | 57 |
| PWHL Minnesota | 24 | 0 | 35 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 0.486 | 54 | 54 |
| PWHL Ottawa | 23 | 1 | 32 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 0.464 | 60 | 58 |
| e - PWHL New York | 24 | 0 | 26 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 0.361 | 53 | 67 |
Minnesota had the opportunity yesterday to decide their own fate, but they lost badly to New York. Meanwhile Boston got a lead and then held on to beat Montréal to put them in the playoffs with their last game played.
Now it's Minnesota vs Ottawa and it all comes down to today's game. If Ottawa wins in regulation, they get 35 points and 9 RW (denoted as W above) and they take spot three pushing Boston to fourth. If they don't get three points, they're out.
Them
Ottawa has to win, and they have had the recipe to beat Toronto, as they've only lost once in four games against the big blue machine. Their last meeting in March broke the big winning streak and sent Toronto off to worlds with a loss.
They need a Team Canada sized big game from Emerance Maschmeyer and some goals from their committee of scorers.
Us
Toronto has clinched first place, and with that comes the opportunity to piss off some teams by picking between them for their first round opponent. If Toronto does not lose in regulation to Ottawa, the choice is Boston or Minnesota. If Toronto folds before the Ottawa desperation, the choice is Boston or Ottawa.
Otherwise, the goal is just to stay healthy. Natalie Spooner cannot be caught in the race for goals or points. The nearest Ottawa player on both lists is Brianne Jenner, who is six points behind her and nine goals back.
It would be hard not to see Spooner as the runaway favourite for MVP, but there's players on other teams who have been as pivotal. New York is Alex Carpenter, Boston is nowhere without Alina Müller just to take two examples.
After today's game, Toronto has 24 hours to choose who they face on Wednesday.
The Game
Don't get hurt! But we could use a fun game, you know, if you don't mind.
