New York can clinch the first overall draft pick, Toronto can clinch a top-two playoff spot
ELMONT, NY (April 28, 2024) – This week of Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) action wraps up with a Sunday afternoon game between New York and Toronto at 1:00 p.m. ET at UBS Arena.
WHERE TO WATCH
Fans in the United States can watch the game live on MSG/MSGHD/MSG2 channels. Fans across Canada can watch live on CBC, CBC Gem, cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices. The game will also be streamed on the league’s YouTube channel. Andi Petrillo will host in studio alongside analysts Hailey Salvian and Saroya Tinker, while Jamie Hersch will have the play-by-play call with analyst David Starman.
TODAY’S CLINCHING SCENARIOS
New York can clinch the first overall pick in the 2024 PWHL Draft with a win over Toronto in regulation that would earn them three Draft Order Points. Boston is the only other team that could potentially play one game following mathematical elimination from playoffs, and New York would hold the tiebreaker by virtue of having fewer points in the regular season in that scenario. Toronto has already clinched a playoff spot but can join Montréal in securing one of the league’s top two seeds with a win in regulation. Those three points would give them 41 points, including 11 regulation wins, which is more than Minnesota could match. The top two seeds earn home ice advantage to open the PWHL Playoffs, with the first-place team awarded the opportunity to choose either the third or the fourth-place team as their semifinal opponent.
PRIDE CELEBRATION
Today at UBS Arena will be a celebration of Pride and marks PWHL New York’s second consecutive Pride celebration following last Saturday’s events at Prudential Center. This week’s festivities beginning with a pre-game mixer event in the Verizon Lounge where all fans are welcome. All fans in attendance will receive Pride Rally Towels and have the opportunity to show their Pride at the sign making table in the concourse. Special guest E.R. Fightmaster, a non-binary actor, producer, and writer will perform the ceremonial face-off. The team will also host a post-game meet and greet in the Spotlight Club.
SETTING THE STAGE
Three games remain for both teams who have full control over their destinies with playoff positions and draft order of selection still to be determined over the final week of the regular season. Toronto (10-4-0-7) is in second place in the standings with 38 points, three back of Montréal and three up on Minnesota, but have extra games in hand that can help secure a top playoff seed. New York (3-4-3-11) is in sixth place with 20 points, and despite being outside the playoff picture, have three opportunities to secure themselves the first overall pick in the 2024 PWHL Draft. This is the third game for both teams following the International Break, with Toronto losing 2-1 in Boston on Apr. 18 but winning 3-2 in overtime against Montréal last Saturday at the Bell Centre. New York suffered a 2-1 loss last Saturday to Boston at Prudential Center followed by a 5-2 defeat in Montréal on Wednesday. New York will finish the season with three straight home games including two at UBS Arena where they’ve won twice in four games. They picked up their first regulation win of the season the last time they were in this building on Mar. 25, with a 3-2 triumph over Boston before the break. This is Toronto’s final road game of the season and enter the action with seven wins and 18 points in 11 games away from home. It’s been over two months since these teams last went head-to-head on Feb. 23. Toronto emerged from the shootout win with 19 points in the standings compared to New York’s 16. Since then, Toronto has accumulated 19 points in nine games, with just four points for New York in their next nine. That game was part of Toronto’s season-high 11-game winning streak that began with a 2-0 victory over New York on Jan. 26.
THE SEASON SERIES THROUGH FOUR GAMES
Toronto leads the season series with three wins to one and an 8-4 points advantage over New York through four games. They first met in the historic season opener on Jan. 1 at Mattamy Athletic Center won 4-0 by New York. Toronto won the rematch 3-2 just four days later on Jan. 5 at Total Mortgage Arena. The next two games were played back at Mattamy with Toronto winning 2-0 on Jan. 26 and 2-1 in a shootout on Feb. 23. Both goals in that contest came in the third period with Emma Maltais opening the scoring for Toronto, and Ella Shelton tying the game with eight seconds left. Natalie Spooner scored twice in the shootout to lead Toronto to victory, and also leads the series with three goals in regulation. Alex Carpenter leads the way for New York with two goals and two assists in head-to-head play. Kristen Campbell has started every game of the season series for Toronto and has three wins, one shutout, and a save percentage of .934. Abbey Levy started game two of the series and stopped 34 of 37 shots in defeat.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Two of the league’s top-three scorers go head-to-head today including Toronto’s Natalie Spooner and New York’s Alex Carpenter. Spooner is second in the scoring race with 21 points, including a league-high 15 goals in 21 games, while Carpenter ranks third with 20 points, including eight goals and 12 assists in 21 games. Sarah Nurse (7G 10A) is second in Toronto scoring with 17 points after scoring twice, including the overtime winner, last Saturday in Montréal. Emma Maltais (3G 12A) has 15 points, which is tied for third in rookie scoring, and picked up two helpers against Montréal to bring her total in line with Carpenter for third in the league in the assist category. New York’s Ella Shelton (5G 9A) is tied for second in league scoring among defenders and tallied her fifth goal on Wednesday to takeover the category lead at her position. Jessie Eldridge (7G 5A) is third in New York scoring with 12 points after scoring her seventh goal of the season last Saturday. Abby Roque (4G 7A) and Jaime Bourbonnais (3G 8A) are tied with 11 points each. Toronto’s Renata Fast (3G 8A) has 11 points and has produced in both games since the break, and Hannah Miller (6G 4A) is fifth in team scoring with 10 points.
NEW YORK COLLEGIATE CONNECTIONS
Today marks PWHL Toronto’s first game played in the state of New York where a number of players spent their collegiate careers. Renata Fast, Erica Howe, and Emma Keenan were all members of the Clarkson University Golden Knights – just like New York’s Elizabeth Giguère and Ella Shelton. Lauriane Rougeau attended Cornell University – the same alma mater as New York’s Jaime Bourbonnais, Jill Saulnier, and Micah Zandee-Hart. Toronto’s Hannah Miller went to St. Lawrence University where she was teammates with New York’s Kayla Vespa. Toronto defender Allie Munroe played her NCAA hockey at Syracuse University.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
“We’re pumped to hit the road to face New York with three regular season games to polish our game so were peaking come playoffs. Focusing on the details within our game to plan to finish the regular season strong.” – Brittany Howard, Toronto
“It’s been a while since we have played New York, and our last game was close and physical. We expect a very similar game this time around. The league is so close. Anyone can beat anyone at anytime. We are excited for the opportunity to continue to battle for playoff positioning.” – Troy Ryan, Toronto
QUICK HITS
Toronto (+9) is first in goal differential and New York (-14) ranks sixth…Toronto (2.57) is second in goals-per-game average and New York (2.00) is tied for fifth…Toronto (2.14) allows the second fewest goals-per-game and New York (2.67) allows the most on average…Toronto has scored the game’s first goal 13 times and have won 11 of those games, and New York has scored the first goal seven times and won five of those games…The third period is the best offensively for both teams with Toronto scoring 21 times in the final frame and New York scoring 16 goals…Toronto has seven wins in nine one-goal decisions, and New York has five wins in 12 one-goal results…Toronto (+42) is second in shot differential and New York (-137) ranks sixth…Toronto (28.24) is fourth in shots-per-game average and New York (27.33) ranks sixth…Toronto (26.19) allows the second fewest shots-per-game and New York (33.81) allows the most shots on average…Toronto has outshot its opponent in 13 games, New York has been outshot in 18 of its games…New York (7.10) averages the most penalty minutes per game and Toronto (6.57) ranks third…New York (15/69) is second in powerplay efficiency at 21.7%…Toronto (7/60) ranks fourth on the PP at 11.7%…Toronto (59/64) is first in penalty kill efficiency at 92.2%…New York (54/61) ranks second on the PK at 88.5%…Natalie Spooner (TOR) is second in league scoring with 21 points…Alex Carpenter (NY) is third in league scoring with 20 points…Spooner leads the league with 15 goals…Carpenter and Emma Maltais (TOR) are tied for third with 12 assists…Ella Shelton (NY) is tied for second in scoring among defenders with 14 points…Carpenter leads the league with nine powerplay points followed by Shelton with eight…Spooner leads the league with five powerplay goals…Maltais leads the league with two shorthanded goals…Abby Roque (NY) is second in the league with 31 penalty minutes…Carpenter leads New York with 79 shots on goal…Spooner leads Toronto with 85 shots…Roque (182/299) leads New York with a face-off percentage of 60.9%…Carpenter (59.8%) leads New York with 393 draws…Alexa Vasko (71/137) leads Toronto with a face-off percentage of 51.8%…Blayre Turnbull (42.6%) leads Toronto with 305 draws…Abbey Levy (NY) has one win in seven starts with a goals-against-average of 2.55 and a save percentage of .922…Kristen Campbell (TOR) leads the league with 13 wins and three shutouts in 19 starts and has a 2.06 GAA and a .922 SV%.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
NEW YORK:
Woods | Carpenter | Giguère
Vespa | Roque | Eldridge
Saulnier | Downie-Landry | Norcross
Gruschow | Labelle | Packer
Levis
Hobson | Shelton
Zandee-Hart | Bourbonnais
Fällman | Zafuto
Levy | Post
Scratches: Aurard, Baker, Olivier, Schroeder
TORONTO:
Maltais | Nurse | Connors
Miller | Turnbull | Spooner
Cogan | Vasko | Compher
Howard | Bach | Leslie
Willoughby
Larocque | Fast
Munroe | Flanagan
Rougeau | Knowles
Campbell | Howe
Scratches: Jackson, Poulin-Labelle
OFFICIALS:
Referees: Jack Hennigan (Halton Hills, ON) and Amy Martin (Winnipeg, MB).
Linespersons: T.J. Dockery (Buffalo, NY) and Justine Todd (Kawartha Lakes, ON).
Follow the league on all social media platforms @thepwhlofficial plus team accounts @pwhl_newyork and @pwhl_toronto.