Brand new series for the Sceptres and a much tougher one

Following the most complete game of their season at the most pivotal time in a victorious playoff opener Wednesday, the Sceptres had an early lead in a short series and a home game looming to put their opposition on life support. 

But exactly two days after that the Sceptres had turned a five game series into a three game series, lost home ice and had a bit of a goalie situation to deal with. 

As Toronto head coach Troy Ryan said after Friday’s 5-3 loss to the Minnesota Frost that tied the Sceptres’ best-of-five semifinal at a game apiece heading back to the Gopher State, “best-of-five can be dangerous. You win one on the road and you’re going home to try to wrap it up.” 

And despite some really elevated team play through two games by the Sceptres, that is the situation the Minnesota Frost find themselves. 

 As dire as that could be for his Sceptres, Toronto’s head coach still very much likes his teams’ chances. 

“It just shifts,” Ryan said. “Now we’re going into Minnesota and we got to steal one. Hopefully we get two but we got to steal one. It is what it is.” 

But what gives Ryan real optimism is the way his team has conducted itself through the first two games, despite coming out even on the series scoreboard. 

“In this series we have probably played five pretty good periods,” Ryan said. “I think if we play five pretty good periods in the next two games, we will in the worst case scenario at least be bringing it back to Toronto (for a Game 5). 

“I think we have to be optimistic and positive of where our game is right now,” Ryan continued. “I’ve liked, like I said, five of the periods, so if we just continue along that trend, good things should happen.” 

ABOUT THAT GOALTENDING 

Sceptres’ starting goaltender Kristen Campbell had some issues earlier in the year but seemed to have put those all behind her until the third period of Game 2. 

Harmless-looking shots off the sticks of Sophie Jaques with six minutes to go in a tie game for the eventual game winner and a probably more harmless shot from Mellissa Channell-Watkins for the game clincher a few minutes later just aren’t the kind of goals Campbell herself or any of the Sceptres expect to get by her. 

So it wasn’t much of a surprise when Ryan mentioned post-game that his No. 1 goalkeeper felt it necessary to address the situation with her teammates afterwards. 

Ryan didn’t want to discuss in any detail what was said, but it was clear that Campbell wanted her teammate to know she was aware of her role in Friday’s loss and did not take it lightly. 

“I don’t have to say a whole lot to her,” Ryan said post-game when asked how he’ll approach Campbell’s shaky third period before the team hits the ice again. “We have a goalie coach (Brad Kirkwood) who does a great job with her. I’ll obviously keep it private but she did speak to the group after the game about her role in this. We got to be better in front of her. I think she knows she has to be better and she had that conversation with the players.” 

Backup Raygan Kirk, who filled in earlier this year and righted the ship while Campbell got herself sorted out, is on the long-term injured list and not eligible to play in this series. 

No. 3 ‘keeper Carly Jackson had a big game for the Sceptres in the next to last game of the season helping them win a pivotal game in a shootout with New York, but that is the extent of her playing time over two full seasons. If Ryan and the coaching staff don’t feel Campbell is in a good place going into Sunday’s Game 3, would it even be fair to throw Jackson into the fire? 

The answer is it’s unlikely, which means Campbell and Canada’s top goaltending guru Kirkwood are going to be having some intense conversations between now and Sunday night’s 6 p.m. puck drop. 

WHAT ABOUT MINNESOTA 

Minnesota captain Lee Stecklein is the strong stay-at-home rearguard coaches depend on. She makes the right pass, plays the kind of physical game in front of her net that keeps forwards from getting too comfortable and has an international and now professional resume that ensures when she speaks, her teammates listen. 

But over these last couple of weeks, Stecklein has expanded her game to include big-game goal scorer as well. 

With the Frost needing to win out and still get a little help over the final two games of the season just to make the playoffs, Stecklein scored her only three goals of the schedule in those two games. 

Then on Friday with her team trying to avoid going down 0-2 in a best-of-five series, Stecklein again stepped up scoring two of the Frost’s first three goals and setting the third one up. 

Minnesota is accustomed to getting offence from its defence but normally it’s the likes of Jaques or Claire Thompson doing that work. 

“I think it really goes back to our team and the way we have been playing these last two games,” Stecklein said of her recent offensive spurt. “It’s opened up some thing. Obviously we have a lot of offensive threats that people have been worried about which opens up some stuff. You just have to be ready to take advantage of that and luckily it has gone my way so far.” 

Stecklein is being humble. With four points through two games she is the PWHL’s leading playoff scorer and if she wasn’t on the scouting report as an offensive threat that had to be a focus before the series began, she has made herself one now. 

mganter@postmedia.com