Sceptres Gameday: Once more unto the ice

New York Sirens @ Toronto Sceptres
Pride Celebration
7:00 PM ET @ Coca-Cola Coliseum
Watch in New York: MSG
Watch in Canada: Prime Video

Watch Outside Canada: PWHL YouTube Channel and thepwhl.com

Every game is a Pride game in the PWHL, Pride games are just a little more so.

Stakes for the Sceptres-Siren game tonight:

The current standings are OTT (39 points), TOR (37 pts), NY (34 pts), with 2 games remaining for all (including a TOR-OTT game on Saturday). OTT also plays BOS on Wednesday.

NY is eliminated unless they win in regulation. (With an OTW they max out at 39 points, and either OTT or TOR will pass that in the final game.) This is useful for us because they should pull their goalie in a late tie, making us more likely to win in regulation.

If the Sceptres win in any fashion, the final spot will be determined by the TOR-OTT game.

If the Sceptres lose in OT, they are eliminated by an OTT regulation win against BOS.

If the Sceptres lose in regulation, they are eliminated if OTT wins in any fashion against BOS.

In summary: win and they fight on, lose and they need Boston’s help.

No one ever wants to need Boston's help, so a win is what we want.

For fans of Gold drafting, from the PWHL notebook:

SEATTLE AND VANCOUVER ACTIVATE GOLD PLAN

It was an eventful two games last week between the league’s two expansion teams. On Tuesday, Vancouver (8-2-4-14) eliminated Seattle (7-1-4-16) from playoff contention with a 4-1 win, then on Saturday, the Goldeneyes needed a regulation win over the Torrent to stay alive but were eliminated despite a thrilling 6-5 comeback win in overtime. Per the league’s innovative ‘Gold Plan’ initiative, teams eliminated from playoff contention will compete for ‘draft order points’ in all remaining games, post-elimination. The team with the most ‘draft order points’ earns the first overall pick in the 2026 PWHL Entry Draft.

Seattle earned one ‘draft order point’ by virtue of their overtime loss to Vancouver.

Seattle and Vancouver each have two remaining games to accumulate draft order points.

If Vancouver loses to Montréal on Tuesday, then Seattle would have the opportunity to clinch the first overall pick with a regulation win against Minnesota on Wednesday.

New York and Toronto are the only other teams capable of playing for draft order points and would have one game to do so if eliminated from playoff contention before Saturday.

This is the first time in league history where multiple teams are competing to earn the first overall draft pick. In each of the first two seasons, New York was the only team eliminated from playoff contention prior to the final day of the regular season. Click here for the latest order of selection standings.