Opening weekend was a blast, and the best part is… we have more PWHL hockey to come! The rest of the home openers are this week: Montreal, Seattle, New York and Toronto.
For full details on game broadcasts, head to the PWHL site here.
New York Sirens at Montréal Victoire
Tuesday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. Eastern
The Sirens are coming in HOT off a shutout win against the Ottawa Charge on Saturday, where forward Taylor Girard scored three goals in the third period, completing the first hat trick of her career. With a shorthanded, empty-net goal from defender Maja Nylén Persson, the Sirens tied the whole thing up with a bow, 4-0 at the final buzzer.
Sirens goaltender Kayle Osborne recorded her second career shutout. Rookie forward Maddi Wheeler had three assists for New York, setting a record for most points in a PWHL debut.
New York has now opened all three PWHL seasons with a win on the road. Last season, they spoiled Minnesota’s 2024-25 home opener with a 4-3 overtime victory, and won the first game in PWHL history in Toronto with a 4-0 shutout in the league’s inaugural season. And they’ve never made the playoffs.
Montréal is coming in slightly less hot after a midday shutout loss to Aerin Frankel and the Boston Fleet. This was the Victoire’s first loss in a season opener, previously beating Ottawa twice, once in a shootout and once in overtime.
Victoire captain and forward Marie-Philip Poulin led Montréal with five shots on goal, eight faceoff wins and, yes, six penalty minutes.
“Pou's always going to find a way to create something, to find some momentum, and their line certainly did do that. It just didn't end up in the back of the net,” said Montréal Head Coach Kori Cheverie. “We'll make adjustments. We'll fight through and she will make adjustments as well. I really liked some of the looks that they had and some of the momentum that they started, and some of the face-offs that they ran. It's game one."
It’s Montréal’s home opener at Place Bell, and they definitely don’t want another shutout. They’re one of three teams without any points yet, but as Coach Cheverie mentioned… it’s been one game.
Watch: Prime Video, MSG
Minnesota Frost at Seattle Torrent
Friday, Nov. 28 at 1 p.m. Pacific
Minnesota lost their home opener against Toronto on Friday, but they also lost their home openers in the two previous seasons and still ended up with a championship banner in the rafters for each. They raised the mark of their latest achievement in a pre-game ceremony at Grand Casino Arena (fka Xcel Energy Center in case you were confused like I was) before puck drop.
Minnesota outshot Toronto 31–19 and ended up with a 2-1 loss for their effort.
“We made two mistakes — individual mistakes, not even team or structure-wise, and they buried both of them. We hit four or five posts, and we had plenty of opportunities to score but we just have to finish,” said Minnesota Head Coach Ken Klee.
In their 4-3 overtime loss to the Vancouver Goldeneyes, Seattle Torrent forward Julia Gosling recorded her second career multi-goal game with her opening markers for Seattle. The goals were also her first even-strength tallies in regular-season action, scored on a career-high six shots. She has five goals in her last five games, dating back to the 2025 PWHL Playoffs with Toronto.
Perhaps she can share the wealth with the rest of her teammates for their home opener. I’m particularly excited to see the crowd and atmosphere at Climate Pledge Arena.
When asked about how she feels the game’s sold-out Vancouver crowd will compare to the Seattle home crowd on Friday, Torrent captain Hilary Knight said, “Definitely louder at Climate Pledge [Arena]. I’ve had the opportunity to play in it twice now [2022 Rivalry Series and 2024-25 PWHL Takeover Tour], I can’t hear a thing down there.”
Watch: Sportsnet ONE (Canada)
Boston Fleet at Toronto Sceptres
Saturday, Nov. 29 at 2 p.m. Eastern
Toronto’s home opener is the last of them, with the puck drop for New York’s scheduled for two hours earlier. As mentioned, the Sceptres won their first game 2-1 against the Frost, with goals from defender Ella Shelton (ripped away from the New York Sirens in a devastating (to me) draft-day trade this off-season) and forward Kiara Zanon. Zanon became the first PWHL rookie since Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in the league’s inaugural season to score a game-winning goal in their first career game.
Natalie Spooner tallied an assist on each Sceptres goal, marking her first career multi-assist game.
This was the first time in three seasons that Toronto has started on the road, and goaltender Raygan Kirk backstopped the winning Sceptres with a 30-save performance. She’s put up four 30+ save games in her 11 career outings. The second-year netminder also became the first Toronto goaltender to face, and stop, a penalty shot.
P.S. There has never been a successful penalty shot (out of five) in league history.
Goalies.
This game is the first game for both teams since their respective season openers. Speaking of, please look at this pic of all the fans in their sailor hats celebrating Boston’s first goal of the season. I hope they wear them to every game. I wish I had one.
In the home opener, a 2-0 shutout win against the Victoire, forward Susanna Tapani scored the fastest goal of opening weekend at 1:13 of the first period on Boston’s first shot of the game. With a third-period assist, she now has 11 career multi-point games. Last season, she finished second on the Fleet with 11 goals and six multi-point performances.
Aerin Frankel, goaltender to the stars, made 25 saves, notching the third shutout of her regular-season career.
Megan Keller scored the first power play goal of the PWHL season in her first game as Fleet captain. She now has a point in all three of Boston’s season-opening games (2G, 1A). Alina Müller also recorded the primary assist on Keller’s inaugural season power play goal. The Fleet’s new alternate captain is the team’s all-time leader with 24 career assists.
It will be fun to see how goaltending pans out for the Sceptres, and a matchup with the Fleet will be a great challenge.
Watch: CBC NESN
