Toronto still has plenty to play for

Playoff spot secured, but home-ice advantage is up for grabs heading into final week

The race for top spot in the PWHL is tight heading into the final week of the league’s inaugural regular season.

Toronto head coach Troy Ryan has other goals in mind.

“They’re not handing out a trophy for that,” the veteran coach said after Friday’s practice ahead of a trip to New York for Sunday’s matinee.

“I guess there’s a pride factor that in the first year (of the league) you were able to finish first. We’re trying to do what’s best to set us up for success in the playoffs. I’m not going to undermine it; it’s still a priority, still something that’s important for us … We’re going to see what we can do to secure it, but we’re not going to hurt our team for the playoffs to get there.”

Heading into the weekend, Toronto was tied with Montreal for first place at 38 points, while Minnesota sat third with 35. But on Saturday, Montreal shut out Ottawa 2-0 and moved into sole possession of first with 41 points, while Minnesota lost 2-1 to Boston in regulation time. Montreal has one game left, Minnesota two and Toronto three.

Toronto holds the tiebreaker against Montreal, thanks in part to last weekend’s 3-2 win in front of a record-setting crowd at the Bell Centre.

At 1 p.m. Sunday, Toronto will meet last-place New York, which has already been eliminated from post-season contention in the sixteam league. That doesn’t mean a Toronto win is in the bag.

“I don’t know the inner workings of what’s going on there or how they’re feeling, but I just know sometimes the most dangerous team is a team that’s playing loose,” Ryan said. “A lot of people talk about underdog mentality. Spoiler mentality is really dangerous, too.”

After a slow start followed by an 11-game win streak, Toronto has already secured a spot in the fourteam playoffs, where the top seed will have home-ice advantage and the chance to select its semifinal opponent under the league’s innovative format.

“That’s what we’re racing for now, it’s that home-ice advantage and to be able to play in front of our fans at first,” leading scorer Natalie Spooner said. “The exciting thing is that we haven’t played our best hockey, so we still have a lot to build on.”

Spooner has 15 goals and six assists, second only to Montreal’s Marie-Philip Poulin (22 points).

“She’s an amazing player,” Spooner said of fellow national team star Poulin. “(But) I don’t really think too much about (the league scoring race). I’m more (focused on) going to the games asking: How do I help my team win here? And that’s playing the game that I play.”