Harmon's hat trick highlights PWHL's NHL All-Star Weekend showcase with plenty of skill on display

"Shooooooooot!"

The plea echoed down from the Scotiabank Arena crowd as Team Kloss attempted to make up a two-goal deficit with its net empty in the dying seconds of the PWHL showcase on Thursday in Toronto.

The crowd, with its insistence on putting pucks on net with an extra player on the ice, was reminiscent of Maple Leafs supporters in the mid-2000s, begging the defence duo of Tomas Kaberle and Bryan McCabe to stop passing between each other and just "shooooooooot."

Team King, named after tennis icon Billie Jean King, who is an executive board member of the PWHL, eventually won the game 5-3.

"Definitely one of the most fun games I've been a part of," said PWHL Ottawa's Savannah Harmon, who scored a hat trick in the victory for Team King.

WATCH l Harmon's hat trick leads Team King past Team Kloss:

The game, held on opening night of the NHL's all-star weekend, was the latest sign that women's hockey is establishing itself after the first month of the PWHL drew record crowds, popped on TV and featured plenty of tough, competitive action on the ice.

The 20-minute 3-on-3 showcase felt like an all-star game, in ways both good and bad. The physical play that the PWHL has quickly become known for was non-existent. The skill with all that open ice, on the other hand, was prevalent.

Perhaps the coolest part of all-star games, generally, is getting to see new combinations of standout players take the ice together, in the same jersey.

In this case, Team King trotted out Team Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin alongside stalwart Americans Hilary Knight and Kendall Coyne Schofield to open the game. As all three are forwards, coach Cassie Campbell-Pascall's motives could not have been clearer.

"It was good not to have to chase