New York at Toronto – 7:00 p.m. ET – Mattamy Athletic Centre
Watch on Linear TV: TSN, MSG Networks
Streaming: YouTube
New York's last game was on February 21 at home, where they beat Montréal in overtime. Their record is 2 RW, 4 OTW, 1 OTL and 4 L, for a Points % of .455 which is just enough to put them in fourth place.
New York has the least amount of regulation wins (tied with Boston) and the second highest number of losses. They are getting five of their 11 points from overtime games.
Toronto's last game was February 16 at Scotiabank Arena, where they beat Montréal 3-0. Their record is 5 RW, 1 OTW, 0 OTL and 5 L, for a Points % of .515 which is third place.
Toronto has the most number of regulation wins (tied with Minnesota) and the most number of losses. They are picking up only two points of their 17 out of overtime games.
Them
New York has the highest goal scoring rate in the league, and a middling goals against rate. This should put them higher in the standings, but they have had too many overtime games earning them only two points, not three.
They get a good number of power plays, and they score well. They don't take too many penalties – about average, but they give up a lot of goals on the PK.
They are middle of the pack in Shots on Goal on average, but they are the worst at Shots on Goal Against. Corinne Schroeder (remember her from the first game of the season?) is getting above average results on a lot of shots faced. Abby Levy is not doing as well, and comes in about as good overall as Toronto's Kristen Campbell.
Alex Carpenter leads the league in points, and New York has some goals sprinkled throughout the lineup. Their biggest problem is keeping the puck on their own sticks to lower the shots allowed.
Us
Toronto spends a lot of time on special teams with the second highest rate of power play opportunities for and against. They score well enough, but not spectacularly, but their biggest weapon is the PK. They just aren't allowing a lot of goals against.
In general that's not true, and Toronto allows the second highest rate of goals against, but they are at -1 in differential, so it isn't a crisis. If the goaltending continues as it's been in the last few games (a modestly big if) the picture looks pretty bright.
Are you tired of hearing about Leafs depth scoring? I am very, very sick of this manufactured dilemma. But PWHL Toronto has a real issue here. Natalie Spooner has 10 goals and leads the league. But the next woman on the list is Hannah Miller with 3. So on the one hand 13 different players have scored in 11 games. On the other hand, Spooner and Miller have more than the other 11 combined.
We've seen some signs in games lately of a little more cycle, a little less individual play in the offensive zone, and the more the goaltending improves, the more obvious it will be that the offensive play is the factor that will make the difference between good and great for Toronto.
Without the goaltending being at least average, nothing else matters much. But if it gets there, then all eyes will turn to the skaters.
The Game
I fully endorse beating New York. Shutouts are fine. See you at gametime!
