All six teams still in playoff hunt with over month to go

Just 15 games remain in the PWHL season, but the playoff picture is far from decided.

Each team will play every other team one time to close out the regular season. The top four teams will earn a spot in the playoffs, and the No. 1 team will get to choose whether it plays the No. 3 or No. 4 team in the semifinals.

As it stands, Toronto (36 points), Minnesota (35), Montreal (31), and Ottawa (27) are in playoff position, with Boston (22) 5 points out of the fourth spot and New York (20) 7 points back.

Teams are off from March 25-April 18 for the Women’s World Championships, which take place April 3-14.

Let’s take stock of where each squad stands at the break.

Toronto

Toronto hasn’t clinched a playoff position, but it’s about as close as it could be. The Athletic’s latest projections give Toronto a 100 percent chance of making the playoffs, though that figure isn’t airtight.

Minnesota

Minnesota is one of the hottest teams in the league right now, with five straight wins dating back to a 4-3 overtime loss against Toronto feb. 27. With 35 points, Minnesota sits in a comfortable position, with an infinitesimal chance of dropping out of playoff contention.

Montreal

A four-game losing streak set Montreal back, but it’s sitting in third place, with 4 points separating it from fourth-place Ottawa. If Montreal can use the World Championship break to regroup, the playoffs are comfortably in reach. That task is made tougher by the fact that Montreal resumes play with consecutive games against the top teams, Minnesota and then Toronto.

Ottawa

Ottawa is in possession of the precarious fourth playoff spot. With Boston just 5 points back, Ottawa’s path to the playoffs is contingent on whether it can secure a few key wins — and Boston and New York record a few key losses.

Boston

Boston doesn’t need to win out to make the playoffs, but it needs to get pretty close. Boston needs, at the least, two more regulation wins than Ottawa and as many wins as New York. That may be easier said than done: Boston hasn’t recorded a regulation win since blanking Minnesota feb. 25.

New York

With a win over Boston Monday, New York snapped a seven-game losing streak during which it plummeted down the standings. New York totaled 2 points during that skid, and it will need a lot more over its last five games to secure a playoff spot.

Loose pucks

The PWHL is expecting to set another attendance record when Toronto takes on Montreal at the Bell Centre April 20. Tickets to watch two of the league’s top teams face off at the 21,000-seat arena sold out in under an hour March 20. The previous record, set at a Toronto-Montreal game at Toronto’s scotiabank Arena, was 19,285 . . . Toronto defender Jocelyne Larocque was suspended one game for cross-checking a Boston player March 20, and Ottawa forward Tereza Vanišová was fined $250 for a hit from behind against New York, also on March 20.