Sceptres' Skid Hits New Low Despite Strong Play

The Toronto Sceptres had their west coast party crashed as they lost 4-2 to the Montreal Victoire in Vancouver.

Here are three takeaways on yet another difficult loss for the Sceptres.

Sceptres Struggle To Score

It is no secret that so far this season, Toronto has been unable to find ways to put pucks in the net. What makes this so frustrating is that it’s not because they aren’t generating chances, it’s because they can’t finish them.

From the moment the puck dropped to the final buzzer in Rogers Arena the Sceptres had chances to score. Yes, Ann-Renée Desbiens played a great game, but there's a point if you can't score, you should look internally for the solution because every goalie in this league is world-class.

Toronto outshot Montreal 31-25 in the game and had consistent possession in the offensive zone. One thing that has held Toronto back is the lack of shots getting to the net. Montreal blocked 17 shots against the Sceptres, suppressing the amount of work Desbiens had to face. This represents a lack of patience with the puck. If Toronto held onto the puck to find a better passing or shooting lane their scoring would increase

As of January 9, the Sceptres sit fourth in the league in goals with only 20 through eight games, averaging 2.5 per game.

If Toronto wants to consistently get back into the win column this season, they need to capitalize on their high-quality chances and not rush to shoot the puck.

Toronto fails to start on time again

A theme of the Sceptres' season has been their inability to start on time. Toronto was by far the dominant team for forty minutes, but first period struggles and a lacklustre first couple of minutes in the second put them in a three-goal deficit.

“When You get down in this league it’s going to be tough to come back,” said Troy Ryan. “It’s tough to chase the game and we have been chasing a lot, we need that pushback from the opening puck drop if we are going to be successful.”

The Sceptres were able to keep the Victoire to only four shots for 20 minutes late in the second and early in the third period.

Vancouver makes its case

If expansion is truly in the cards for the PWHL, then the city of Vancouver made a strong first impression and case with the league to be one of the next cities to get a franchise.

19,038 people were in attendance to catch a glimpse of the action, that fans in the eastern part of the country have been spoiled with.

Their energy radiated through and was consistent for the entire 60 minutes. Fans came in both their Toronto and Montreal jerseys making it a night B.C natives Hannah Miller and Rylind MacKinnon will never forget.

“It’s just Special to come to BC and be embraced by Vancouver, the Canucks and all the girl's teams in the province," said Sarah Nurse. “To see all the other women's sports that are here from the rugby sevens team and the girls from the NSL, I think it’s just special because it shows that we have created this platform for women's sports and I know it’s just snowballing and continue with other sports in the country.”