Three weeks into the PWHL season, Ottawa and Montreal are on the rise after strong performances. Both will be tested this week before the league enters a five day break. Here's THN-W's week three PWHL Power Rankings.
Three weeks into the PWHL season, Ottawa and Montreal are on the rise after strong performances. Both will be tested this week before the league enters a five day break. Here's THN-W's week three PWHL Power Rankings.
Week three of the PWHL regular season is in the books. Minnesota holds onto their top spot following a nailbiter overtime win against Ottawa. Teams are beginning to settle into their systems, and a pecking order is starting to come into view. Here's a look at The Hockey News' week three PWHL Power Rankings:
1. Minnesota (Last Week: 1)
Nobody took top spot from Minnesota, although Ottawa looked close. Susanna Tapani came to life for Minnesota, including a bit of a fluke overtime winner for Minnesota, but she's a player to watch as the season progresses. One of Minnesota's keys remains strong goaltending whether it's Nicole Hensley or Maddie Rooney between the pipes, they're making all the stops they should, and a few they shouldn't. Minnesota has an incredibly challenging week ahead including a mid-weed game against Montreal, followed by weekend games against Boston and New York on the road...with puck drop scheduled 21 hours after puck drop the day before, it will be a tight turnaround once the game ends, followed by travel between Lowell and Bridgeport, sleep, meals, and warm ups. When all is said and done, this will be a physically exhausting two days.
2. Ottawa (Last Week: 3)
Ottawa got out to a lead against Minnesota and took them to the bring in overtime. In the end it was a fluky shot that evaded Emerance Mashmeyer. Ottawa looks fast and cohesive, and their roster, from top to bottom is beaming with confident plays. Players like Daryl Watts and Akane Shiga look destined for break out performances, and the team has yet to see Brianne Jenner and Emily Clark find the net. When those two factor into the scoring, this will be a tough team to beat. Like Minnesota, Ottawa has a busy week with back-to-back home games on Tuesday and Wednesday against Toronto and Boston, before travelling to Montreal on the weekend.
3. Montreal (Last Week: 5)
Had it not been or a loss to a motivated Toronto team, Montreal may have climbed even higher. Even in their shootout loss to a motivated Toronto team, Montreal showed signs of things to come. Primarily was the unstoppable nature of the world's best player, Marie-Philip Poulin. With the game on the line, Poulin called her own number in the dying seconds scoring an unforgettable goal. In the shootout, she was stymied, but teams will be entering any match up with the red hot Poulin knowing they're in trouble. Ann-Renee Desbiens made some miraculous saves for Montreal, and they club is getting 200-foot contributions from the likes of Tereza Vanisova and Maureen Murphy. As this team continues to gel, they'll only become more dangerous. Right now the lone concern is consistent secondary scoring. Montreal has some talented players that given the opportunity to join the top six could jumpstart another line.
4. New York (Last Week: 2)
New York is a team with multiple faces. They are winning right now playing a wild and free style with a difficult to pinpoint system. It's resulting in offensive chances, but it's also resulting in defensive lapses, and periods of time where the team looks scattered, frantic, and out of sync. Thankfully for New York, they have Corinne Schroeder who has cleaned up the vast majority of those issues. There are considerable rumblings coming out of New York that the group is unhappy with how things are going, despite taking a 4-1 win over Boston this week. The return of Micah Zandee-Hart should help, but the real onus here should come to Howie Draper getting his team on the same page.
5. Boston (Last Week: 4)
If it wasn't for their head-to-head win against Toronto, Boston would be on the bottom of this stack. One reason for optimism is seeing Loren Gabel and Alina Muller click. Knowing that they have two-thirds of a top scoring line firing, it gives head coach Courtney Kessel an opportunity to find a better fit for Hilary Knight. Knight thrived at the World Championships with a cast of worker bees who could feed her in the offensive zone. She's not a player who should be expected to produce off the rush, but that's often been the attempt resulting in lower percentage shots for the star. It could be interesting to see Jamie Lee Rattray, which could be accomplished by shifting Rattray to her off wing. Boston's left wing is disproportionately loaded with offense compared to their right side at the moment. Another option would be Taylor Wenckowski back to center, who was one of the best players on the draw in the PHF last season, or Shiann Darkangelo, who is also looking to get on the board.
6. Toronto (Last Week: 6)
Toronto looked inspired against Montreal in their 4-3 shootout win peppering Ann-Renee Desbiens with 40 shots. The re-worked top line of Sarah Nurse, Maggie Connors, and Natalie Spooner had 16 of those shots alone, with Connors finishing +3 with a goal and an assist. That's a major step forward for Toronto who wasn't finding a consistent attack. Hannah Miller was another positive piece this week taking her game forward. Kristen Campbell again had a save percentage sub the .900 range, but was stellar in the shootout. She should feel a boost of confidence from that shootout, and if that carries over, Toronto could be a team on the rise. That said, there's still plenty of consistency issues across the roster.