Sceptres Gameday: Montréal @ Toronto

Montréal Victoire @ Toronto Sceptres

7:00 PM ET @ Coca-Cola Coliseum
Watch in Canada: Prime Video

Watch Outside Canada: PWHL YouTube Channel and thepwhl.com

Toronto's last game was a 2-1 regulation win on the road in Vancouver. They have a Points % of .426 and are sixth in the league.

Montréal's last game was a 4-0 win over the Frost at home. They have a Points % of .647 and are second in the league.

The Victoire are in first by straight points, with two more games played than Boston. But both of those teams and Minnesota are tight in the standings. New York in fourth place is the only really vulnerable team. At this point, with 12-15 games remaining for each team, it looks like only the fourth spot is in contention. Something very unusual would have to happen – like a goalie injury – for that to change.

The Sceptres did themselves a huge favour by taking six points on the western trip from the teams now behind them. They are one point behind the Sirens with one more game played. Ottawa is right in there in that mix as well. If the Sirens carry on at their current pace, 43 points is needed to beat them, so somehow out of 12 games, the Sceptres need to get 20. Bottom line is they need to get regulation wins, and they need seven of them.

This is the size of the mountain the Sceptres have to climb today:

Montréal’s Ann-Renée Desbiens returned from Milan with an Olympic silver medal for Canada and jumped right back into the action with two wins, including one shutout, and has been named PWHL Player of the Week presented by SharkNinja. The 31-year-old from Clermont, QC, made 34 saves in the Victoire’s 4-1 win against New York on Thursday, then turned aside all 17 shots faced against Minnesota in a 4-0 shutout on Sunday for a combined 0.50 goals-against-average and .986 save percentage. The shutout was her fourth of the campaign, tying the PWHL single-season record set by Corinne Schroeder last season with the Sirens. Desbiens, Schroeder and Boston’s Aerin Frankel are all tied for the all-time lead with five career shutouts. Desbiens leads all PWHL goaltenders this season with 11 wins, a 1.06 GAA and .958 SV%, and has not surrendered more than two goals against in 15 starts, including 10 games with one or fewer goals against.

Montréal offers a little encouragement on how teams can rapidly change their position in the standings in the PWHL:

The Victoire (9-3-0-5) have taken over first place in the PWHL standings with 33 points while riding a five-game winning streak and wins in eight of their last nine games since they occupied eighth place back on Jan. 4. It’s the first time the Fleet (8-3-2-2) have dropped down to second place all season as they sit just one point back with 32 points and two games in hand.

Meanwhile out west, Renata Fast became the all-time leading scorer for the Sceptres with 40 points wearing blue. Daryl Watts and Natalie Spooner are right behind her with 39 each. Watts has done it in the least amount of games and seems destined to take the lead before the season is over.

I don't think anyone had that on their bingo card when the PWHL launched.

Lineups will be out later today.