Top five things to watch in the final week of the PWHL regular season
Aaaaaaand we’re back! After a three-week break for the World Championships in Czechia, the PWHL returns to action to finish the 2024-25 regular season. Each team has three games to go, starting this weekend with three games on the schedule.
Who will clinch first place? Will the defending champs miss the playoffs? How far is the gap between last place and postseason hockey? We’ve got a lot to cover as we gear up for the end of the regular season, so let’s take a look as some of the most important things to watch this week.
1. Can the Victoire clinch first place?
The Victoire have been at the top of the PWHL standings and, perhaps most important, the top of the Daily Faceoff PWHL Power Rankings, for most of the season. Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey continue to produce at an elite level, Ann-Renee Desbiens is healthy and will be in the crease come playoff time, and 2024 No. 5 overall pick Cayla Barnes, who is regularly playing more than 22 minutes a night on the blue line, would be a top candidate for rookie of the year if it weren’t for Sarah Fillier.
But with losses in four of their last five games, the Victoire have allowed the Sceptres to climb back in the standings, and Toronto is now just three points behind Montreal for the No. 1 spot. Can they find points in their last three games, or will they carry their losing ways from before the international break into the postseason?
The Victorie’s final three contests are against the Charge, Fleet and Sirens, and Montreal has a winning record against two of those teams (you’ll never guess who they’ve lost three of five to).
2. Will the Frost miss the playoffs?
The league’s first Walter Cup champions are on the outside looking in with three games to go. With five losses in the Frost’s last eight games, the only consistency in their 2024-25 season has been their inconsistency. The team will go on a tear and score five or six goals in a game, then go five straight only producing one or two. Both goaltenders in Maddie Rooney and Nicole Hensley have been underwhelming for large chunks of the season, with a combined save percentage under .900.
Minnesota may see a World Championship boost as the likes of Kendall Coyne Schofield, Britta Curl, Kelly Pannek, Lee Stecklein and Grace Zumwinkle were all on the gold medal-winning U.S. roster. One player who may benefit the most is Zumwinkle, who has followed her rookie of the year season with a lackluster sophomore slump, scoring four goals and seven points in 19 games. If she can find her game now and help lead this group in the playoffs, look out.
The Frost’s last three games are against the Sirens, Charge and Fleet, and while beating those teams would help them clinch a spot in this spring’s postseason, they’re also playing against two teams that haven’t seen playoff hockey, and promise to come out guns blazing. My head says they’ll make the playoffs, but my gut says they miss. We’ll see.
3. Are the Fleet blowing it?
Hyperbole is for campfires and political panels, but it’s a serious question: are the Fleet going to blow it? Going into the final week, Boston is third in the standings with 40 points, but they lost three straight in regulation going into the international break, and face the Sceptres, Victoire and Frost in their final three games.
Another thing to keep an eye on is the health of starting goalie Aerin Frankel, who was injured in the World Championship gold medal game when Laura Stacey bodychecked her in open ice, forcing her to leave the game. Frankel didn’t practise with the team Thursday, and while the team has called it an upper-body injury, head coach Courtney Kissel says they’re still waiting for an official diagnosis.
Odds are they will earn enough points to clinch, but sometimes, the odds don’t work out.
4. Could the Sirens pull it off?
So you’re saying there’s a chance? I mean, sure, it’s professional sports, there’s always a chance. With wins in four of their last six games, the Sirens have pulled themselves to within six points of the fourth and final playoff spot. While they could technically win out and finish with 42 points, they need a lot of things to happen – mostly the Charge and Frost melting like snow in San Diego – in order to get in.
In all likelihood, New York will finish last for the second-consecutive season and, again, end up with the first-overall pick in next year’s PWHL Draft. The last time that happened, they got Fillier out of it, and she’s currently second in the league in points and first in assists. Maybe finishing last isn’t so bad?
5. Will anyone hit the 20-goal mark?
Think back to the PWHL’s inaugural season, how Natalie Spooner, the PWHL’s first Billie Jean King MVP Award winner, scored 20 goals in 24 games – nine more than Sarah Nurse and Grace Zumwinkle, who were tied for second with 11. In a league with only six teams and each franchise dressing one of the world’s best goalies, you can understand how beyond Spooner, it was difficult for anyone to average more than half-a-goal per game.
However, we’ve seen a slight uptick this season. While no one is running away with it like Spooner did last season, Marie-Philip Poulin leads the way with 17 goals, followed closely by Hilary Knight and Tereza Vanisova, who both have 15. With just three games to go, could we see another 20-goal scorer? Going into the season, i thought the league expanding the schedule by six games would give at least a few players a chance to hit the milestone, but unless we see some multi-goal performances from the likes of Poulin, Knight and Vanisova, it may not happen.
Interestingly enough, several players have a chance to hit the 30-point mark and finish the year averaging a point per game. Last season, only two players averaged a point per game: Spooner with 27 points in 24 games, and Poulin with 23 points in 21 games.