» Toronto Sceptres have what it takes to win PWHL’s Walter Cup

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Just getting to the playoffs in any sport is hard. But getting there playing your best hockey is that much harder.

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The Sceptres learned that in Year 1, overcoming a poor start to put together a league-best 11-game winning streak.

By the time the playoffs rolled around though, that streak was yesterday’s news and the edge the team was playing with to earn that streak had dulled.

The Sceptres are faced with a similar situation this year. They currently are rolling, having gained points in 14 of the past 15 games. They are winning at home, winning on the road, winning in overtime. Even the overtime losses have fed the current drive.

Wednesday’s come-from-behind 4-2 victory over an equally hard-charging and successful Boston Fleet team on their ice was further proof that this team is thriving.

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But what makes this year different than last year? Are the Sceptres merely going to finish on a high note only to suffer a similar fate to last season, a first-round exit.

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Well, to begin, the team is significantly different. Depth is the most obvious improvement.

A year ago, Troy Ryan had two lines he realistically could expect to provide any offence.

This year that number is three and possibly even four.

The free-agent signings of Daryl Watts and Emma Woods, the trade acquisition of Hayley Scamurra and Savannah Harmon, the drafting of Julia Gosling and Izzy Daniel and the rapid development of Jesse Compher are at that root of depth.

Watts, as most expected, has thrived in Toronto. It didn’t happen right away for the former Patty Kazmaier winner, but Watts right now is as hot as any player in the league and that includes veterans like Hillary Knight in Boston and even the GOAT herself, Marie Philip-Poulin in Montreal. All three are filling the net.

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With two goals on Wednesday, Watts reached the 10-goal mark, matching her output in the inaugural PWHL campaign last season while in Ottawa.

Paired with Hannah Miller — who carried this team offensively for the first half of the season — and Gosling, Watts is a constant threat to score.

Scamurra’s arrival cemented Ryan’s most-complete line alongside captain Blayre Turnbull and Compher.

That trio can shut down any line it faces and are just as skilled offensively. It’s a hard game for whichever trio opposes them as all three are grinding, relentless and physical. Watts and Miller as a tandem provide more offence but, for an all-around game, no trio on the Sceptres roster is better than this one.

The third line, if you can even call it that is graced with the skill and experience of three national team members in Sarah Nurse, Emma Maltais and Natalie Spooner.

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Nurse and Spooner both missed significant time this season with injuries or rehabbing from injury, so this line is still far from its peak. Nurse and Spooner were two of the most electric players in the league last year.

Maltais, with her aggressive forecheck and her physical play, could fit in seamlessly on the Turnbull line and has in the past, but she brings that to this line as well, alongside two elite scorers and the chemistry is already there.

Even the fourth line with Woods, Daniel and Maggie Connors is and has shown to be fully capable of contributing offensively while providing the kind of energy and defensive reliability that most coaches can only dream of from a fourth line.

And those are just the improvements up front.

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Defensively, the team has turned over more than half its back end and bolstered its goaltending with the addition of Raygan Kirk with the final pick of the draft. Kirk has made her mark already, holding the fort while starter Kristen Campbell found her way back to form.

The deal that brought in Harmon, who now fills out the first defensive pairing alongside soon to be PWHL defender of the year Renata Fast, cost the Sceptres quite a bit with Jocelyne Larocque going the other way, but that deal was as much about long-term solidity as anything and Harmon has fit in rather seamlessly with Fast.

The additions of Megan Carter through the draft and Anna Kjellbin most recently have given Ryan five veteran rearguards and the rookie Carter, who plays like she has been a professional her whole life.

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Carter is as dependable as any of the veterans she plays with and adds to the physical presence that Ryan covets in his lineup.

The addition of Kjellbin at the trade deadline brings more veteran savvy to that Sceptres back end. It comes with rookie Rylind MacKinnon moving back to a depth role, but that too answers a need after both Lauren Bernard and Olivia Knowles were scooped off the Sceptres reserve list by the New York Sirens.

It’s that kind of depth that allows the Sceptres to wear down a team like they did the Fleet on Wednesday. Boston carried the play for most of the first two periods, but the third was almost all Toronto with contributions from every area of the roster.

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This is a team that is built for the playoffs. They aren’t perfect and they will have lapses like they did particularly in that first period with Boston, but they persevere.

They are not overly reliant on any one player and best of all have two of their more experienced players still rounding into form following injuries.

The wrinkle, if there is one yet to overcome, is how this team re-assembles following a near-month-long international break that starts after this weekend.

A large number of Toronto’s roster will take part in the world championship in Czechia, so the break will be by no means a rest for most of them.

Upon their return, they will have two games and then the playoffs will begin.

If healthy, the roster is there to take on whatever the rest of the league can throw at them.

mganter@postmedia.com

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