Boston Fleet @ Toronto Sceptres
7:00 PM ET @ Coca-Cola Coliseum
Watch in Boston: NESN, TV 38
Watch in Toronto: Sportsnet Ontario


Watch Outside Canada: PWHL YouTube Channel and thepwhl.com

Toronto's last game was on March 17, a 2-0 regulation win over the Fleet. Their Points % is currently 0.470, and they are in fourth place, precariously in a playoff position.

Boston has played twice since that loss to the Sceptres, gaining two regulation wins over the western teams. Their Points % is 0.682, and they are two points ahead of Montréal in first place.

Before today's games, each team has eight games remaining in the regular season. While not eliminated by any meant, both Seattle and Vancouver are well back of the pace to make the playoffs, and they would need miraculous winning streaks, and some helpful losing to become a factor.

At the top end, the top three teams, not yet clinched, are all at least 10 points ahead of Toronto, and they will decide the top three positions, barring any outrageously strange action.

That leaves a three-way race for one playoff spot with Toronto at 31 points, Ottawa at 30 and New York at 27. Toronto plays Ottawa three time, New York twice, and New York and Ottawa play each other once.

The tight standings below the top three also makes the Gold plan concept likely to be limited to two or three teams over a very short run of games:

Gold Plan: The Gold Plan is an innovative system used to encourage competitive play by all teams throughout the full regular season. Once a team is mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, the standings points earned (using the league's 3-2-1-0 system) in their remaining regular-season games are classified as Draft Order Points. The non-playoff team with the most Draft Order Points earns the higher pick in the draft.

By the time any team is eliminated, their opportunity to win these points is severely limited. It's not a reality fans are fond of, but parity in teams is the thing that makes for more teams contest for playoff spots and the regular season meaningful.

Some bad news here about Kirk:

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