Some lessons learned and 2 key lines result in Sceptres win

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There will be no losing streak to start the year like a season ago for the Toronto Sceptres.

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A 3-1 win over the Boston Fleet — with Hannah Miller scoring the go-ahead goal with 98 seconds left in regulation and Emma Maltais adding an empty-netter, took care of that on Saturday afternoon at the Coca-Cola Coliseum.

But there were a few nods to their inaugural Professional Women’s Hockey League’s campaign that played into the outcome.

DEALING WITH THE LULLS

Admit it. During the second period after Toronto had drawn even on a Sarah Nurse game-tying short-handed goal — the first ‘jailbreak’ tally of this PWHL season — you were feeling pretty good about the Sceptres’ situation.

And when the Fleet was assessed back-to-back minors, the chances of a season-opening victory looked a lot better.

But even with that two-player advantage, the Sceptres failed to take control. They took shot after shot towards the Boston net, buzzing around it constantly but their shots weren’t getting through or, when they did, goalkeeper Aerin Frankel was there to stone them.

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Over the length of the 5-on-3, Boston blocked a total of five shots.

At that point those earlier positive thoughts likely shifted to: ‘Can this team withstand a start without its leading goal scorer and reigning league MVP Natalie Spooner in the lineup?’

It’s the nature of sports fandom. At one moment, your team is on top of the world and the next you’re wondering if they will ever score again.

That kind of roller-coaster thinking can seep into a team too, but the Sceptres have been down that road before and they weren’t going there again.

This team learned a number of lessons in perseverance last season, not the least of which is that a poor few minutes don’t necessarily have to mean a poor game.

Toronto came out perhaps a little too passively in the first period, but then got better with each period.

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That missed opportunity in the second could have spiralled into something bigger, but the Sceptres didn’t let it. Instead, they buckled down defensively until their next break came.

Toronto was outshot 12-9 in the first period but then outshot Boston 34-7 over the next two, including allowing just a single shot to the visitors for the final 20 minutes.

The Sceptres spent a good part of the first six weeks of last year’s first season learning how to deal with tough times. One could see just how comfortable they are this year, staying the course and rallying after some early adversity.

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WATTS IS THE REAL DEAL

A big part of the offence that has to be replaced with Spooner sidelined is going to come from Toronto native and former Ottawa Charge standout Daryl Watts, but it won’t be her alone.

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Watts is playing on a line with Nurse and rookie Izzy Daniel. All three possess the kind of hockey IQ that makes any coach worth his salt smile. And believe us, Troy Ryan did a lot of smiling watching that trio perform on Saturday.

Watts didn’t score, but she set up Nurse’s short-handed marker on a set play started by Rylind MacKinnon, who corralled the puck behind her own net and rifled it around the boards. Watts retrived it just above the hash marks and gave it another swat up the boards to Nurse who had taken off toward the Boston zone as soon as she won the draw to MacKinnon.

Nurse was in behind the Boston defence when the puck reached her and, while fighting off a check from behind, got a shot off that Frankel stopped before jamming home her own rebound.

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Watts also set up Miller’s late game-winner on the power play. Her shot towards Frankel rebounded directly to Miller on the far side of the ice and all Miller had to do was hit the open cage.

“I really enjoyed the line,” Ryan said. “A lot of Nurse’s offence comes from being in a really strong defensive position. She’s always reloading above and forcing turnovers. Obviously, every time Watts touches the puck, there is usually something there offensively. The speed she can attack defenders with, well, there are just very few people that can play offensively like Daryl. And then Izzy, for her first game, the way she managed her game … she’s smart positionally, makes smart line changes, and sees the ice really well so I think they all just complement each other really well.”

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That line will be leaned on heavily until Spooner, who is skating almost daily, returns.

DON’T FORGET THE POWER TRIO

Size and a willingness to go into dirty areas on the ice (most likely to draw a defender’s attention in a physical sense) is, and has been, a big part of Spooner’s success in hockey.

In her absence, Ryan has put together a line made up of three players who at least play similarly to the way Spooner does when she’s rolling.

The line — Miller, rookie Julia Gosling and Jesse Compher — is a trio with the best combination of size, talent and strength.

“That line is fun,” Miller said. “Some big bodies and kind of everyone who is willing to go into any area of the ice, so I think it works well and we’ll look to build off what we had today.”

Compher was singled out by Ryan for having what he thought was one of her best games since she came into the league. “Nothing magical. Just simple little plays but again pucks on net and making good decisions with the puck.”

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