5 takeaways from Week 12 of the PWHL season: Boston in Boston; Spooner, Knight come through; trade deadline looms

Teams have less than 10 games remaining in the 2024-25 PWHL season, and things are heating up as the race for the playoffs continues. Some players are stepping up to help their club get closer to punching their ticket to the postseason.

This past week, we saw star players show their true value, a franchise appearing in its namesake in the lead-up to the final few days before the trade deadline and much more.

Here are the big takeaways from the week that was.

Boston in Boston sounds good

On Saturday afternoon, the Boston Fleet left their usual confines of the Tsongas Center in Lowell to play in the city where its surname is. At Boston University’s Agganis Arena, the Fleet hosted the Montreal Victoire in a very entertaining game. A sold-out crowd saw the return of BU legend Marie-Philip Poulin, which was extenuated when Poulin scored her team-leading 14th goal of the season minutes into the contest.

Boston battled back from a 2-0 deficit to grab a point, though Montreal came away with the victory in overtime thanks to a goal from former Boston College star Cayla Barnes.

The move to have the Fleet play inside the city’s limits was, in the PWHL’s own words, a way of giving fans in a different area an easier chance to see Boston play. However, with a solid crowd at Agganis on Saturday, it begs the question of whether the PWHL should move the team there permanently.

While the larger building might pose a challenge for the team to fill consistently, it might be an easier sell for fans in Boston proper to hop on the ‘The T’ and head over to Agganis than to drive over 30 miles outside of town.

The Fleet are at Agganis again on March 26 when the Toronto Sceptres come to town.

Spooner scores, Knight soars

Speaking of the Fleet and Sceptres, their two superstars found the back of the net a few times last week.

While everyone was excited to see Natalie Spooner return to the Sceptres lineup last month, it was no surprise that there was rust on the reigning MVP. However, she’d been slowly finding her legs over the past few games, culminating with a standout effort against the Victoire last Thursday.

The Scarborough, Ontario native finally scored her first of the season off a nice feed from rookie Julia Gosling, her first goal in almost 10 months. Then, Spooner added some insurance with another power-play goal late in the second period, propelling the Sceptres to a 4-1 victory.

The day before that, Spooner’s international adversary, Hilary Knight, had her best game of her PWHL career. The Fleet captain potted her first career hat trick in the league in a 5-2 win of the New York Sirens in Lowell.

It was an excellent evening for Knight and highlighted her much-improved season. The 35-year-old struggled during the league’s inaugural campaign, registering just 11 points in 24 games. So far, she has 11 goals and 21 points in 22 games, sitting second in the league in goals and third in points.

No southern comfort for Ottawa

The Ottawa Charge was quietly one of the hottest teams in the PWHL heading into this past weekend with points in six straight games and big wins over Montreal and the Sirens two weeks ago. However, that goodwill was erased when they met the Minnesota Frost in the latest leg of the Takeover Tour in Raleigh on Friday night. Before the Charge was able to settle in, they were down 3-0, leading to Emerance Mascmeyer getting the hook.

Ottawa was able to settle into the game, but they couldn’t generate any sort of rhythm, leading to a 5-0 loss, just the second time the team has been shut out this season.

Getting goose-egged in a game is certainly not something the Charge wanted in one of the league’s marquee games. Even more so, it came at the hands of a team they are chasing down in the race for the final playoff spot. I know they have time to come back, with a game in hand on the four teams in a postseason position, but they will need some help to sneak into the playoffs for the first time.

As of Monday, Ottawa is six points behind the Frost for fourth with nine games remaining in its season.

How much longer does New York have?

Remember how excited we were about the Sirens at the beginning of the season? Alex Carpenter and rookie Sarah Fillier were going to be the PWHL’s version of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and tear up the league.

Then, reality set in.

After beginning the campaign with a 4-3-1-6 record, New York has gone on to lose nine games in a row, six of which in regulation.

Now, it isn’t like the Sirens are getting blown away, as four of their losses have come by just one goal. In their 5-2 defeat at the hands of the Fleet, New York actually outshot Boston 40-20. Even with Carpeneter back from injury, the lucky bounces haven’t gone the team’s way, nor has the goaltending been as exceptional.

While they aren’t mathematically eliminated yet (thanks to the league’s 3-2-1-0 points system), the Sirens need to just about win out and receive some help from teams above the standings to qualify for the playoffs for the first time. Or else…back to collecting Draft Points to obtain the first-overall pick once again.

Trade Deadline preview

After the dust has settled on the NHL Trade Deadline season, it’s time for maybe something to stir in the PWHL. On Thursday at 2 p.m. ET, the league will have its trade deadline, with the regular-season roster freeze set for noon on Friday.

As I mentioned last week, talks have been quiet, thanks to potential expansion. However, that might not stop teams from taking swings in order to bolster their rosters for this season. In Daily Faceoff’s Trade Targets, there are many players that could be on the move this week, and could make a significant impact in their new mark.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the last-place Sirens off-load some players, including scoring threats Abby Roque and Noora Tulus. Ottawa is on the outside looking into the playoff picture, but they already made one big trade this season, receiving mixed results. The Frost could be a team looking to improve by retooling its lineup, which paid off last year with the acquisition of Sophie Jaques.

I don’t know if the Victoire or Sceptres are interested in making any moves, but the Fleet is a team that could use some depth on the back end, and a capable backup goaltender behind Aerin Frankel.

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