Nurse hat trick helps Toronto clinch top

ELMONT, N.Y. (AP) — Sarah Nurse scored two goals in the first period and finished with her first career hat trick as Toronto clinched a top-two seed and home-ice advantage in the first round of the Professional Women’s Hockey League playoffs with a 6-2 victory over New York at UBS Arena on Sunday.

Toronto (11-4-0-7) ties Montreal (10-3-5-5) for first place with a match in hand heading into the final week. Toronto has home matchups with Minnesota on Wednesday and Ottawa on May 5 remaining. Montreal, which can finish no worse than second, ends its regular season at Boston on Saturday.

It took Toronto just 65 seconds to grab the lead for good.

Nurse used assists from Renata Fast and Hannah Miller on the power play to open the scoring.

Emma Maltais and Kali Flanagan had assists on Nurse’s second goal, also on the power play, at the 12:54 mark. Maltais pulled into a four-way tie for the league lead with her 13th assist of the season.