Six of the eight PWHL teams have something to play for on the last day of the regular season.
With every team playing on Saturday, there are still three things left to determine: Who can clinch the final playoff berth, who will be the No. 1 seed and get to choose their playoff opponent, and who will win the Gold Plan and claim the No. 1 pick in the 2026 Draft.
With so much on the line, and at least 240 minutes of PWHL action coming up, here’s a look at how those final three advantages might shake out.
Two quick reminders before we dive in:
· The PWHL uses a 3-2-1-0 points system where a regulation win earns three points, an overtime earns two, an overtime loss one and a regulation loss zero.
· The Gold Plan is used to determine the first pick in the draft where teams mathematically eliminated from playoffs accrue points that go toward earning the top selection in their remaining games. The eliminated team with the most post-elimination points by the end of the regular season receives the No. 1 pick.
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Final playoff berth: Toronto vs. Ottawa
A battle of Ontario will determine who moves on to post-season play and who will spend the next month dreaming of extra time on the ice.
The Ottawa Charge are in the lead with 41 points, while the Toronto Sceptres can still catch up, having 38 points. Had the Charge topped the Fleet in regulation on Thursday, their Saturday contest wouldn’t matter but, because they won in overtime, Toronto has a chance to fight for its own fate on the weekend. The Sceptres need a regulation win to eliminate the Charge and make playoffs.
Toronto and Ottawa have split their four meetings this season, with the Charge taking the most recent, with a 2-0 win on April 11.
Expect Ottawa’s Brianne Jenner to be an X-factor in this one. After a couple of low-scoring patches, she has picked up her efficiency with a goal in each of her last three games and a total of six points over that span.
For Toronto, goalie Raygan Kirk could be the difference-maker. With three shutouts in her last seven games after not recording one in her first 15 games, she’s become one of the most dependable players on the Sceptres. On a team plagued by inconsistency and offensive struggles, Kirk has the opportunity to be a solid backstop constant in this crucial game and then into playoffs.
No. 1 playoff seed: Montreal vs. Boston
In the PWHL, the No. 1 playoff seed comes with a unique advantage: The opportunity to pick your playoff opponent.
The Montreal Victoire and Boston Fleet are separated by just one point going into their games on Saturday. The Fleet are set to play the Sirens — a team with nothing but pride and love of the game left to play for — while the Victoire will face the Torrent, who also need a win to bolster their chances of getting the No. 1 pick.
Because the Victoire have the tiebreaker against the Fleet and are up by one point, they can afford to win one fewer point in their outcome than Boston earns in its game. For example, if the Fleet win in regulation, the Victoire just need to win in overtime; or if the Fleet win in overtime, the Victoire just need to lose in overtime. Montreal’s game starts 10 hours after puck drop for the Boston matchup, so by the time the Victoire hit the ice, they will know exactly what they’ll need to pull off.
As much as clinching the top seed means — especially as the feat gets more difficult with the league growing — the position has historically come with a curse. Picking your opponent hasn’t manifested into the advantage it seems. Every team that has decided its matchup has also been eliminated by that same choice.
Gold Plan winner: Vancouver vs. Seattle
The Vancouver Goldeneyes and Seattle Torrent are the last two in a battle for the No. 1 pick, which would be presumably used to take Caroline Harvey, the touted top draft pick of 2026.
The Torrent sit one Gold Plan point up on the Goldeneyes, who have three. Seattle was eligible to start earning Gold Plan points on April 14 — it was eliminated from playoff contention the earliest — but the Goldeneyes have held their own in the race after a regulation win over the Victoire on Tuesday. The Sirens were mathematically eliminated from competing for the top pick because they were eliminated too close to the end of the season.
An interesting wrinkle this season is that the Gold Plan determines who gets the No. 1 pick but doesn’t set the entire draft order. The league announced that if no expansion teams are added next year, then the Gold Plan plus playoff results will determine the order. However, in the wake of expansion rumours, the league has established that if more clubs are added, all picks except the first one will be confirmed at a later date.
Giving all the more reason for the Goldeneyes and Torrent to put it all out there on Saturday.
Vancouver will play first against a team with nothing on the line: Minnesota. The Frost could opt to manage the minutes of a key players such as Kelly Pannek (who leads the league in goals and points) or go with the second option in their goalie tandem (Nicole Hensley over Maddie Rooney), two choices that could make the Goldeneyes’ mission easier.
Seattle versus Montreal is up next. In this one, both sides have something left to play for, so anticipate a competitive one. Marie-Philip Poulin has travelled to Seattle with the team after missing the last 10 games with a lower-body injury and she appears available to play. Anticipate a feisty matchup between these two to finish off the regular season.