What you need to know for Sceptres-Frost PWHL semi-final matchup

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Round two of the Toronto-Minnesota playoff rivalry begins Wednesday night at Coca Cola Coliseum in Toronto.

The Sceptres finished the regular season in second place overall, but lost three of their final four games clinching home ice for the first round on the second to final game of the year.

The Frost needed back-to-back regulation wins in their final two games just to get into the playoffs and got those with convincing victories over Ottawa and Boston knocking out the Fleet in the process.

Here’s a look at how the series shapes up:

THE HISTORY

Toronto won the first two games of the best-of-five tilt a year ago but couldn’t close it out as Minnesota won three in a row to advance to the Final where they defeated the Fleet to become the first PWHL champions.

The season series this year saw Minnesota take four of the six head-to-head matches, outscoring Toronto 20-14 in those six games combined. The Sceptres outscored the Frost 5-4 on the power play.

WHO TO WATCH

Minnesota leans on defenders Sophie Jaques and Claire Thompson to boost their offence and those two finished third and fifth respectively in team scoring so they did fulfill that need. Captain Kendall Coyne Schofield was the leading point getter for the Frost, finishing with 12 goals and 12 assists for 24 points, good enough for a tie for fifth in league scoring. Michela Cava and Britta Curl-Salemme had nine goals each, trailing just their captain in that statistical category. Cava in particular has been a Sceptres killer with four of her nine goals coming against Toronto. Curl-Salemme had three of her nine goals against Toronto.

Like Minnesota, Toronto relies heavily on defender Renata Fast to contribute offensively. Fast finished the year third on the team in scoring with six goals and a league-leading 16 assists. Leading the way offensively for Toronto has been Daryl Watts, who finished third among league leaders with 27 points on 12 goals and 15 assists. Next to her was Hannah Miller, who finished with 24 points on 10 goals and 14 assists, much of that coming in the first two-thirds of the season.

DON’T FORGET ABOUT

On Minnesota, that would be Taylor Heise and Grace Zumwinkle. The two basically carried Minnesota’s offence in year one. Heise was still a force in season two, finishing up with 22 points including eight goals, but wasn’t as dominant as she was in the PWHL’s first season. Zumwinkle missed eight games due to an injury this year and managed just 10 points, but both players are capable of filling the net.

For Toronto, the two to watch would be Natalie Spooner and Sarah Nurse. Neither enjoyed banner campaigns in the regular season — Spooner coming off an ACL tear courtesy of the Frost in last year’s playoffs and Nurse missing nine games this year with an injury she suffered during Rivalry Series play with Canada. Both continue to build back to their pre-injury form and both are showing signs that form is not far off based on recent play.

THE GOALTENDING MATCHUP

Toronto is expected to go with Kristen (Soupy) Campbell throughout the playoffs barring injury or a loss of form. Campbell played all five games in the series last year finishing with an 0.93 goals against average and .962 save percentage, both marks well above her regular season numbers. An injury to backup Raygan Kirk means Carly Jackson will be the backup. The team has full confidence in her should Campbell need some support in the net.

The Frost situation is less cut and dried. Both Maddie Rooney and Nicole Hensley have taken turns carrying the netminder duties for the team at times. Rooney started 19 games this year for the Frost compared to just 10 in year one, in large part because of an injury to Hensley.

Hensley appeared in just 11 games this year but won her final three starts including allowing just a single goal over the two final games — which the Frost had to win to qualify for the playoffs. Rooney came on in Game 2 of the Toronto series last year and while the Frost lost that game, it was the turning point in their post season with Rooney in the net for the next three wins before Hensley took it back in the Final against Boston.

SPECIAL TEAMS

The Sceptres owned the league’s best power play all season, lapping the field with a 25.8% success rate with the player advantage. Unfortunately, that power play is struggling right now having gone 1-for-17 in its last five games — the last power play goal coming March 26 in Boston. The Frost were third overall with the advantage, scoring 17.9% of the time. Down a skater the Sceptres again had the better numbers, killing off opponent advantages 82.1% of the time while the Frost were good on kills just 78.4% of the time, which was the league’s low water mark.

OT AND SHOOTOUTS

Not a ton to choose from here but Minnesota had a slight edge once the game went into extra time. They owned a 3-2 record in OT and were 2-2 in games which went to a shootout. Toronto was just 2-4 in overtime and 1-2 in the shootout.

Of course, in the playoffs teams play five-on-five at full strength in 20-minute periods until the game is decided by a goal so there is no shootout or three-on-three play.

SERIES SCHEDULE

Toronto hosts Games 1 and 2 on Wednesday and Friday with Games 3 and 4 if necessary going in Minnesota on Sunday and next Wednesday. If a fifth game is necessary, it will be played in Toronto a week from Saturday.

mganter@postmedia.com