Sceptres open PWHL season with comeback win over Fleet

TORONTO — The Toronto Sceptres produced their version of Miller Time in the Professional Women's Hockey League season opener on Saturday.

Second-year centre Hannah Miller scored the game-winning goal on a power play with 98 seconds remaining in the third period, lifting the Sceptres to a 3-1 victory over the Boston Fleet.

"It was pretty much a wide-open net, so I'm happy that I was able to put it in," said Miller, who knocked in a rebound after her teammate Daryl Watts' shot from the far side bounded right to her at the side of the goal.

The 28-year-old Miller from North Vancouver has played for Canada at the under-18 level, in leagues in China and Sweden, and for the Chinese national team at the Beijing Olympics where she scored China's first goal of the 2022 tournament. 

But how did Saturday's game-saving moment — played in front of 8,089 fans at Coca-Cola Coliseum — compare?

"Any time you can contribute and score a goal, it's exciting," Miller said. "I'm just happy to get the win tonight and keep building."

Special teams were a significant factor for the home side. 

The Spectres fell behind three minutes into the first period thanks to a Hilary Knight power-play goal. 

Toronto tied the game halfway through the opening frame when Sarah Nurse scored short-handed.

Watts sprung Nurse for a breakaway and she slammed home her rebound.

Watts, signed as a free agent in the off-season after her rookie season in Ottawa, then registered her second assist on Miller's tally.

Emma Maltais added an empty-net goal to seal the score at 3-1.

Toronto was awarded the late-game power play after Boston standout Knight was called for a vicious boarding penalty on Sceptres defender Renata Fast.

"I thought she was in the process of turning so I was just trying to finish the play, take the puck off her," Knight said. "We just got caught up.

"You never want to see a player going to the boards like that."

Knight showed concern for Fast, who bit her lip on the play but recovered in time to help set up the game-winning goal.

"I was just making sure that she knew she could stay down, just in case she was injured," Knight said.

Toronto, who were playing without Billie Jean King MVP Natalie Spooner, outshot Boston 41-19. 

Spooner is recovering from surgery on her left knee last June.

"Being able to put 40-plus shots on goal, it's hard not to think of the pucks that Spooner would collect in the position that net front," Toronto head coach Troy Ryan said.

"But we'll learn as a group if we're putting that many pucks on the net, if someone gets to that Spooner area, there'll be some goals there for them as well."

Boston goalie Aerin Frankel, a big reason why her team advanced to the Walter Cup final last spring, was outstanding with 38 saves.

Frankel made a significant glove-hand stop on Toronto defender Jocelyne Larocque with 6:36 remaining in the third period.

Larocque was alone when a rebound caromed to her in front. But the puck was rolling, and she could only lift her shot straight into Frankel's glove.

Sceptres goalie Kristen Campbell stopped 18 shots.

Toronto outshot the visitors by a combined 32-7 in the final 40 minutes to finish strong.

But with the game tied 1-1, the Sceptres failed to score during a 59-second 5-on-3 advantage midway through the second period. Boston blocked five shots while down two players.

Defender Emma Greco of Burlington, Ont., played her first game for Boston. She was part of the Walter Cup-winning Minnesota team that defeated Boston in a three-game series last spring. 

Greco is one of five Ontario-born players on the Fleet roster.