Highlights and Press Conferences available on Seattle and Toronto YouTube channels
SEATTLE, WA (February 27, 2026) – In the first game back for both teams after a pause in PWHL action for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, the Toronto Sceptres overtook the Seattle Torrent 5-2 in a back-and-forth game in front of a sold-out crowd of 17,335 fans at Climate Pledge Arena, setting a new U.S. arena attendance record for women’s hockey. Five of Toronto’s eight Olympians in the lineup got on the scoresheet, led by two points from Renata Fast. Canadian top scorer Daryl Watts connected with Jesse Compher on the opening goal just 28 seconds into the first period, the second fastest goal to start a game in the PWHL this season. Aneta Tejralová evened the scoring just before the end of the period at 19:48 on a tic-tac-toe play from Danielle Serdachny and Julia Gosling. Toronto got up again early in the second with Fast’s first goal of the season, deflected in off Hannah Murphy’s stick at 4:25, with Natalie Snodgrass again bringing Seattle even at 18:48. Emma Maltais potted the game-winner 5:56 into the third period, followed by two empty netters from Sara Hjalmarsson and Kali Flanagan to seal the Sceptres first West Coast win. Raygan Kirk turned away 29/31 shots for her third win of the season while Murphy saved 24/27.
Toronto looks to pick up momentum as they head up the coast to visit the Vancouver Goldeneyes on Sunday, while the Torrent fly to Ottawa to face the Charge on Tuesday.
QUOTES
Sceptres forward Emma Maltais: “It’s really fun to get a win under our belts…It’s sometimes nice to know that we can find a way to win in moments that we are not having our typical best game. I think there are a lot of learning points. We need to continue to try and play a hard game, get pucks in deep. I think you saw a couple of goals against that were costly from not doing that. It’s good to see our group battle back after we scored that go-ahead goal. There was no give up and we got two empty netters to seal the deal. And Kirky [Raygan Kirk] played amazing.”
Toronto Head Coach Troy Ryan on what helped the team grab momentum in the third period: “A little bit from the penalty kill – just gives us some confidence. Try to acknowledge a very simple thing, but I thought late in the third, I recognized [Claire] Dalton’s play. Just good puck protection, making good decisions on the wall. I thought there were two to three instances where Maggie Connors just made such a great play along the wall, surrounding the puck. I know it sounds so boring to talk about, but those types of plays in a close game like that make all the difference in the world. Just doing the right thing in dangerous places and making good decisions with the puck, they’re probably the biggest things I noticed as a coach.”
Torrent forward Natalie Snodgrass on playing in front of 17,335 fans at Climate Pledge Arena: “I don’t think you can ask for a better workplace environment, a better home base, and the love and support from the fans is so present. We take great pride as an organization to have the best fans in the league, and our fans take great pride in themselves to show up and want to break records. I just wish that we could have gotten a couple more points for them tonight. But what a cool experience for us and for them to be a part of history.”
Seattle Head Coach Steve O’Rourke on the game overall: “It took a little bit of time to find our rhythm, which was expected with one practice back together, so I wasn’t surprised we started a little bit on our heels. I felt that as the game went on, we started to find our rhythm, and it’s a challenge to find that rhythm when you take two players out of [the lineup] and a lot of people are playing with different people and different responsibilities. It took some time for people to get rolling into that, and one of the things we talked about, and we’ll continue to work on, is our connection, from our breakouts or our forechecks and our regroups. I just felt that we had moments where we looked really connected and moments where we weren’t connected, and that’s where we struggled a little bit. We started a little slow, but we got our footing and pushed and pushed and the result just wasn’t there.”
NOTABLES
Tonight’s crowd of 17,335 is the third highest of the season and ninth highest in PWHL history.
Toronto also played in the two highest attended games of the season on Dec. 27 at Montréal’s Bell Centre (18,107) and when they hosted Vancouver at Scotiabank Arena on Jan. 17 (17,856).
The Sceptres scored five goals for the first time in a regular-season game since the last game of the inaugural campaign on May 5, 2024. They entered tonight’s game with the fewest third period goals in the league with seven and earned their largest margin of victory this season.
Toronto snapped a four-game winless streak on the road, a stretch that was tied with Vancouver (Nov. 26 to Dec. 31) for the longest by any team in the PWHL this season.
Seattle has now outshot opponents in five of their 15 games but have just one win in such games.
The Torrent have been tied after two periods a league-high seven times but have won just three of those games.
Renata Fast recorded her first multi-point performance of the season to become the first player to record 40 career points entirely in a Toronto uniform. Her first goal of the campaign snapped a six-game pointless streak that matched the longest of her career, and her fourth assist tied the amount the Canadian defender recorded in Milan, the most among blue liners wearing the Maple Leaf.
Raygan Kirk made her 11th start of the season, the fifth most among the league’s netminders, and allowed two or fewer goals for the seventh time this season.
Jesse Compher set a Sceptres record for the fastest goal to start a game with her fifth of the year just 28 seconds after puck drop. She ranks second on the team in goals behind Daryl Watts’ six, who assisted on the goal. Compher’s last goal came on Jan. 20, also in Seattle and assisted by Watts.
Emma Maltais scored her third goal of the season and ninth point in 17 games to match her 2024-25 production in 30 games (4G, 5A). The Canadian Olympian has four points (2G, 2A) in her last six games and has produced in all three games against Seattle this season (1G, 2A).
Aneta Tejralová’s first PWHL goal with Seattle gives her two points on the season, while recording a season-high five shots. In 2024-25 as a member of the Ottawa Charge, the defender had one goal and nine assists, reaching the back of the net on Dec. 17, 2025. Tejralová captained Team Czechia at her second Olympic Winter Games.
Natalie Snodgrass scored her first goal as a member of the Torrent, matching her goal total in each of her last two seasons in Ottawa. With two points in 14 games, she also matched her stat line across 21 games with the Charge in 2024-25.
Sara Hjalmarsson scored her first career PWHL goal in her 17th game since being selected in the fifth round of the 2025 PWHL Draft by the Sceptres. The Swedish Olympian scored two goals and five points in six games in Milan.
Kali Flanagan tallied her second goal of the season, with her first also scored in Seattle on Jan. 20. Three of the defender’s four points have come against the Torrent.
Watts’ assist brings her team-leading point total to 12 in 16 games on the heels of leading Canada in scoring with eight points (2G, 6A) in her Olympic debut. She leads the season series against Seattle with five points (1G, 4A) in three games. Watts logged just 12:19 of ice time, leaving the game early due to illness.
Ella Shelton registered her third assist and fifth point of the season for a share of the Sceptres lead among defenders. The Canadian Olympian, who leads Toronto in average time on ice, played a season-low 20:31 tonight.
Kiara Zanon contributed her second assist and third point to snap an eight-game point drought, the longest of her rookie season.
Natalie Spooner picked up the primary assist on the game-winner for her fourth helper and seventh point of the campaign. Her last three points (2G, 1A) have come in games against Seattle.
Danielle Serdachny recorded her third assist of the season and fifth point. The forward has points in consecutive games for just the second time in her PWHL career (3A on Dec. 17-19, 2024) after tallying an assist in Seattle’s last game before the Olympic break.
Julia Gosling kept her Olympic momentum going with an assist in her first game back from Milan where she tied for third in Canadian scoring with five points. The forward has produced in every game against her former team (1G, 2A) and has yet to go more than one game this season without a point, tallying her 13th of the campaign tonight.
Alex Carpenter picked up her fifth assist and 10th point of the season, four of which have come in three games against the Sceptres (1G, 3A). The U.S. Olympic gold medalist won 19/30 at the faceoff dot tonight for a 63.3 winning percentage, after leading all tournament skaters at the Winter Games with a 68.1 winning percentage.
Jessie Eldridge extended her season-high point streak to four games (3G, 4A) with a secondary helper tonight. Four of the Torrent forward’s 11 points have come against the Sceptres, bringing her one point away from 50 for her career.
Hannah Murphy suffered a fourth straight loss after opening her rookie season with three straight wins. The Torrent second-round pick leads all rookie goaltenders with seven starts.
Blayre Turnbull recorded a season-high six shots, the most among tonight’s skaters. Toronto’s captain and Team Canada alternate captain had 15 shots on net across seven games in Milano Cortina 2026.
Sydney Langseth made her PWHL debut after signing with the Torrent earlier today from the team’s Reserve Player List. The 24-year-old forward from Eden Prairie, MN logged 4:50 in ice time.
Hilary Knight and Hannah Bilka both missed their first games of the season for Seattle after sustaining injuries while competing at the Olympics. Knight (lower-body) was placed on long-term injured reserve while Bilka (upper-body) is listed day-to-day.
Emma Gentry missed the first game of her rookie season with Toronto and is listed day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
THREE STARS
1. Raygan Kirk (TOR) 29/31 SV
2. Renata Fast (TOR) 1G, 1A
3. Aneta Tejralová (SEA) 1G
STANDINGS
Toronto: 20 PTS (5-1-3-8) – 6th Place
Seattle: 16 PTS (4-1-2-8) – 8th Place
UPCOMING SCHEDULES
Toronto: Sunday, Mar. 1 at Vancouver at 1 p.m. PT / 4 p.m. ET
Seattle: Tuesday, Mar. 2 at Ottawa at 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET