Sceptres’ playoff hopes will go down to the wire after loss against Sirens

This loss, as tough it will be to swallow, does not irreparably harm Toronto’s playoff chances

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Published Apr 16, 2026  •  5 minute read

Toronto Sceptres' Daryl Watts, right, takes the puck past New York Sirens' Chloe Aurar during second period PWHL hockey action in Toronto, on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. Photo by Chris Young /The Canadian Press

If the short PWHL history has taught us anything, it is that the final playoff spot up for grabs in this league gets decided on the last day of the schedule in the city of Toronto.

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More precisely, that last spot gets decided in a game featuring the Toronto Sceptres and Ottawa Charge.

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It’s looking very much like that will be the case for a third year in a row.

With only three games remaining, there is now just a two-point gap between fourth place Ottawa and fifth and sixth place New York and Toronto. Vancouver is mathematically still in the hunt, four points back of Toronto and New York, but they would need some help to grab fourth.

The Sceptres had a chance to put some separation between themselves and the New York Sirens on Wednesday night in New Jersey but failed to do so, blowing a 2-0 lead midway through the third period and losing in regulation to the Sirens by a 3-2 score.

The fact that the loss came in regulation meant three points were won by New York and not a single point was picked up by the Sceptres, leaving the fight for fourth a three-team race and possibly a fourth if Vancouver can get just a little bit lucky.

Toronto will close out the schedule with games against Minnesota on Sunday in St Paul, Minn., against New York in Toronto on Tuesday, and then that familiar Ottawa/Toronto battle in Toronto on the last day of the schedule next Saturday.

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Both New York and Ottawa also have games remaining with each other, Toronto and Boston.

Vancouver closes out against Seattle, Montreal and Minnesota.

Toronto could have put themselves in the driver’s seat on Wednesday night and were in a good position to do so, but an inability to finish off a team with just over 10 minutes remaining and a two-goal lead slipped through their collective fingers.

Here’s what we took away from Wednesday’s loss:

IT NEVER SHOULD HAVE GOT TO THIS

Two third-period penalties by the Sceptres expired only to have the Sceptres’ penalized players immediately be sent in on a breakaway as they left the penalty box.

Renata Fast was the beneficiary of a Sarah Fillier unsuccessful attempt to keep a puck in Toronto’s offensive zone. Not only did the puck somehow get past her sprawling body, it met Fast in stride at centre ice.

Fast was never going to be caught and she wasn’t, but she was stymied by Sirens netminder Kayle Osborne who got her glove up just high enough to snare a shot that was headed to the back of the net.

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A few minutes later, Emma Woods came out of the penalty box in behind the New York defence and was on the receiving end of a tidy pass from Daryl Watts that send her in alone on Osborne.

Woods’ shot was high and off the mark, negating a second golden opportunity to maybe salt this one away.

It’s been a repeatable story for much of the year: Generate a Grade A scoring chance and then fail to take advantage.

Goals are just so hard to come by for this team. Over 27 games, the Sceptres have a total of 49 goals, four fewer than Seattle and five back of Vancouver, who currently reside in seventh and last place in the standings.

Head coach Troy Ryan has known since last year’s expansion draft that scoring was going to be an issue with Toronto, but was even he aware of how much an issue putting the puck in the net would become for this group?

ABOUT THOSE PENALTIES

It’s no secret the Sceptres like to set the physical tone for a game. It’s been part of their makeup since Year 1. Ryan has consistently said he doesn’t mind taking a penalty if it serves a purpose but a few of the five the Sceptres took Wednesday night were simply lazy. A stick to the back of a player idle along the boards is lazy and the Sceptres took two of those. The Sceptres killed both of those but the one that eventually got them was a tough one. Shooting the puck over the boards when trying to clear it is something every hockey player has done at some point in their careers but this time it opened the door to the game-tying goal. The timing of it – the third penalty of the period after two earlier kills — was also unfortunate. Give the opposition enough opportunities and even a good penalty killing team is going to give some up.

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It’s a fine line between being proactively aggressive and being over aggressive and the Sceptres seemed to go over that line on Wednesday and it cost them.

THE PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONS

This loss, as tough it will be to swallow, does not irreparably harm Toronto’s playoff chances. It’s certainly going to make a fourth place finish and the playoff spot that goes with it tougher, but Toronto’s fate, by virtue of the remaining schedule, remains within their own hands. All that has changed is the margin for error. Win out (in regulation) over these final three games and the Sceptres are in the playoffs. Lose even one or require overtime or a shootout to get the job done and their fate rests on the results of games they are not participants. It’s that simple … and that tight.

Obviously the Sceptres can still get that playoff spot without three regulation wins, but anything beyond that and they are going to need help from the outside.

QUICK HITS

Another stellar night of goaltending from both Raygan Kirk and Kayle Osborne in the respective nets. Both had an oops moment: Osborne on Ella Shelton’s goal that found a sliver of space and wound up in the net on a shot from almost behind the goal line and Kirk on that unlucky clearing attempt that went over the glass and put the Sirens on what would become the game-tying power play. But make no mistake, the goaltending in this league remains well ahead of any skill level on the ice and that goes for the entire league

… The loss snapped Toronto’s four-game winning streak on the road since the schedule resumed after the playoffs

… With her game-winning goal in the third on a savvy deflection of a high shot from the point, Casey O’Brien became just the second rookie in league history to reach the 20-point mark in a season. The other was teammate Sarah Fillier

… Watts jailbreak goal in the second period was her ninth of the year and ties her with captain Blayre Turnbull for the team goal-scoring lead.

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