Toronto, Montreal set to meet in PWHL's Battle on Bay Street on TSN
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Natalie Spooner is on a tear that has seen her take over the PWHL’s scoring lead and will look to continue her hot streak as Toronto welcomes PWHL Montreal to Scotiabank Arena for the Battle on Bay Street.
Catch the action Friday at 7pm ET on TSN5, TSN.ca and the TSN App.
Spooner found the net three times on Wednesday as Toronto returned from the international break with a 5-3 victory on the road against Boston.
The 33-year-old has helped power Toronto during a three-game winning streak, scoring twice against Minnesota and twice against New York in their previous two contests.
She also displayed her scoring touch during the break, recording a goal in Game 6 and added two more in Game 7 as Canada stormed back to win the Rivalry Series against the USA.
Sarah Nurse opened the scoring for Toronto in their victory over Boston with her second marker of the season and Kali Flanagan also fired home her first PWHL goal.
Emma Maltais had three assists in the win.
Toronto has surged to third in the PWHL standings thanks to picking up nine points in their last three games, they are 4-5-1 on the season.
Not to be outdone, Montreal, playing their first game out of the international break, also enters the contest on a three-game winning streak, with points in their last seven outings.
Before the conclusion of the Rivalry Series, Montreal earned victories over Minnesota, Ottawa and Boston.
They have not played since their 2-1 overtime win over Boston at Tsongas Center on Feb. 4.
Montreal captain Marie-Philip Poulin leads the team with six goals and nine points.
Poulin, who also captains Canada’s national team, scored in Canada’s 6-1 victory over USA in Game 7 to clinch the Rivalry Series.
She contributed an assist in the Game 6 win in Regina and two assists in the Game 5 victory at Sasktel Centre in Saskatoon.
Montreal forward Maureen Murphy is tied for the league lead with seven assists.
PWHL Montreal are currently second in the league with 17 points, with a game in hand on first place Minnesota.
Professional women's hockey attendance record
Friday could be the third PWHL game this season to break the professional women's hockey attendance record.
Ottawa was the first to reset the mark at 8,318 on Jan. 2 and then Minnesota upped the ante on Jan. 6 with 13,316.
Montreal was the opponent in both of those historic contests.
Scotiabank Arena has a capacity of 18,800 and the game was announced as a sellout hours after going on sale to the general public.
This is the second meeting of the season between Toronto and Montreal.
Toronto captured the first game 4-3 in a shootout at Verdun Auditorium on Jan. 20.