With about a month and a half remaining in the 2025-26 PWHL campaign, every game is taking on extra importance as the season winds down and the league’s eight teams battle for points to secure playoff positioning. As of this writing, two teams sit neck-and-neck atop the standings, each chasing the top seed and the advantage that comes with it — getting to choose your semifinal opponent in the post-season.
On Sunday — headlining a trio of games — the Boston Fleet and Montreal Victoire will meet for just the second time this season (1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT on Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet+).
Entering the matchup, the stakes are clear. The Fleet hold the No. 1 spot in the standings with 37 points, while the Victoire sit just behind with 35. Given the league’s 3-2-1-0 points system, four outcomes are possible in the standings post-game, but both teams will be chasing the full three points, which would allow Boston to extend its lead to five points or Montreal to move ahead with one point in hand.
Before the puck drops at Place Bell on Sunday afternoon, let’s take a look at the numbers behind these two teams’ rise to the top of the standings.
6: The Victoire are going into Sunday’s clash on a six-game winning streak, while the Fleet recently had a six-game run of their own. Montreal, which has not played since a 4-3 shootout win over the Toronto Sceptres on March 6, has not suffered a loss since Jan. 18, collecting four regulation victories and two in extra time. Boston, meanwhile, had matched a team-high six straight wins before falling 3-2 to the Seattle Torrent on March 11, its first loss since Jan. 11. During the Fleet’s streak, only two of their six wins came in regulation; the other four went to shootouts.
10+: Both teams have three players with double-digit points this season. For the Victoire, that’s Marie-Philip Poulin (16), Abby Roque (12) and Laura Stacey (11). On the Fleet, the mark has been reached by Alina Müller (13), Megan Keller (12) and Susanna Tapani (11). Looking at the rest of the league, Vancouver and Toronto don’t have three players in the double digits yet, Ottawa and New York also have three, and Seattle and Minnesota both have more than three.
11/23: The last time Montreal and Boston faced off was Nov. 23, just the fourth game of the PWHL season and two days into it. For their upcoming matchup, the teams will meet in Laval, Que., home of the Victoire; their previous meeting took place at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Mass., home of the Fleet. That Sunday afternoon, the Fleet blanked the Victoire 2-0, with Keller and Tapani scoring the goals.
16: A total of 16 players from the Victoire and Fleet took part in last month’s Winter Olympics. Boston sent seven, including four who won gold with the United States, while the remaining three represented European countries, including Müller, who won bronze for Switzerland. Montreal contributed nine Olympians: only Hayley Scamurra represented the U.S., five were part of Canada’s silver-medal team, and three represented European nations.
17K: TD Garden in Boston, home of the NHL’s Boston Bruins and NBA’s Boston Celtics, has a capacity of more than 17,800 and will host its first-ever PWHL game on April 11, when the Fleet and Victoire meet for their third matchup of the season — the second-to-last before their April 17 finale. The game is expected to surpass the league’s current U.S. attendance record and will rank as the second-highest all-time in PWHL history.
18: To this point, both teams have played 18 games, the fewest in the league, with only the Frost and Torrent matching that total. The other half of the league has reached 19 or 20 games. Across those contests, the Fleet and Victoire have recorded the same number of regulation wins (nine) and the same number of overtime or shootout victories (four). The difference comes in losses: Montreal’s five defeats all came in regulation, while Boston has three regulation losses and two in overtime or shootouts – the source of the Fleet’s two-point edge over the Victoire.
20(s): How have these two teams managed to win more games in regulation than their six league counterparts? It’s not necessarily about scoring the most goals – the top two scorers are currently the Frost and the Ottawa Charge. What they have done, however, is allow the fewest goals, and their numbers are significantly better than everyone else’s. Over 18 games, the Fleet have given up 29 goals and the Victoire an even more impressive 25. The next-best team behind them is the Frost, who sit third in the standings and have allowed 37.
31 vs. 35: With goals allowed serving as the perfect segue, let’s look at the numbers for starting goaltenders Aerin Frankel of the Fleet (No. 31) and Ann-Renée Desbiens of the Victoire (No. 35). Desbiens leads the league with the best goals-against average (1.06) and save percentage (.958), with Frankel just behind in both categories (1.28 GAA, .949 SV%). However, Frankel holds the edge in wins, with 12 in 16 games played, while Desbiens has 11 in 15. The pair are tied in shutouts with four each. Over Montreal’s current six-game streak, Desbiens has been especially sharp, allowing just five goals and posting two shutouts, while Frankel has allowed eight goals and recorded one shutout over her last six games.
90: Another key factor in their low goals-against totals is excellent special teams play. The Fleet boast a 93.3 per cent penalty kill (42-for-45), while the Victoire are at 92.6 per cent (50-for-54). On the power play, meanwhile, Boston is converting at 16.9 per cent (10-for-59), while Montreal is even more efficient at 20.8 per cent (10-for-48).
100: Both Boston and Montreal have two players with more than 100 faceoff wins this season. For Boston, it’s Alina Müller (131) and Susanna Tapani (113). For Montreal, Poulin (200) and Shiann Darkangelo (133) have reached the mark. Poulin is one of only two players in the league to surpass 200 faceoff wins, alongside Alex Carpenter of the Torrent.
from Sportsnet.ca
via
i9bet
