Takeaways: Miller and Toronto's Power Play Give Reason For Hope

The Toronto Sceptres defeated the New York Sirens 4-2 in front of a packed Scotiabank Arena crowd.

Here are three takeaways from the Toronto Sceptres' win.

Hannah Miller, Toronto’s Rock

On a team that has not been able to find any level of consistency in their performance, Hannah Miller has always risen to the occasion for this team, and Saturday afternoon was no different.

In front of 19,102 fans, Miller once again put the team on her back and led them to the win. On her first goal, she took a page out of Natalie Spooner's book and battled her way to the front of the net. There, she was able to deflect a Kali Flanagan shot with her body to open the scoring for the Sceptres.

“She plays the game the right way, is responsible defensively, and scores a lot of goals, whether power play or transition. I was very happy for her," said Sceptres head coach Troy Ryan. “I think one thing that’s been really cool with her this year is she’s played right wing, left wing, centre, and seems to not really miss a beat wherever we put her. She deserves a lot of credit even just dealing with the emotions that come with that.”

Miller would come up big for the Sceptres again, stripping the puck from Ella Shelton and walking to the net all alone, putting it through Corinne Schroeder’s five hole to regain the lead for Toronto later in the game.

With her two goals on Saturday, Miller now leads the league in goals with six, and is just one goal shy of her total from last season. Miller will need to continue to lead the charge offensively for the Sceptres along with the likes of Sarah Nurse and Daryl Watts if they want to go on a run.

Power Play Finds Some Life

It’s safe to say that part of Toronto's struggles this season have come from their poor play on special teams. While the Sceptres did give up a power play goal, their power play also looked the best it had all season.

Throughout the night they changed their look from power play to power play, resulting in success. The best of the night was obviously in the third when Daryl Watts set up Sarah Nurse for a one-timer to score the game winner.

Toronto should continue to experiment more with having someone below the crease to hold possession. As Wayne Gretzky showed in his career, playing from behind the net forces the defenders to make a choice, either leaving someone in front open or allowing the opposition time to work their way around and find an opening to the net.

PWHL continues to set attendance bar high

The Sceptres proved once again that there are fans hungry to watch women’s hockey in Canada. The crowds in Toronto have continued to come out in droves to watch the Sceptres this season.

On Saturday ,it was no different as the building was packed with over 19,000 fans for the second edition of the Battle On Bay Street. The atmosphere was electric with the entire crowd on their feet cheering and waving the rally towels left on the seats, something that the Toronto Maple Leafs would envy.

It begs the question, what would a playoff series at Scotiabank Arena look like? They have to make it their first, but the type of atmosphere it would bring would be unimaginable.

It is not just in Toronto; in about a month's time the team will travel out to Edmonton to play at Rogers Place which is already sold out.