Lou Orlando
The New York Sirens were dealt a brutal blow in their race for the PWHL’s final playoff spot. The Ottawa Charge defeated New York 5-1 in regulation Saturday afternoon, pushing them to the brink of elimination.
The Sirens entered play needing a regulation win to overtake the Charge for fourth place.
“We gotta treat it like a do-or-die,” Sirens star forward Sarah Fillier told PWHL sideline reporter Signa Butler before puck drop.
But New York couldn’t match Ottawa’s firepower. The Charge scored five unanswered goals — including two jailbreak goals in the second period — to widen their lead in the standings. Ottawa improved to 39 points (8-7-1-12), leaving New York five points back of the final playoff spot with just two games remaining.
Charge goalie Gwyneth Philips was brilliant in her 16th consecutive game started in net, stopping 23 of 24 shots and holding New York scoreless over the final 48:16. Kayle Osborne allowed five goals on 29 shots for New York. Her 14 losses and 26 games played lead all PWHL goalies.
The Sirens struck first with a power-play goal at 11:04 of the first period, when Paetyn Levis beat Philips blocker side with a quick wrister from the bumper. But New York struggled to contain an Ottawa rush attack that produced three goals Saturday, and it proved costly.
After numerous scoring chances in the opening frame, the Charge finally capitalized at 18:59 as captain Brianne Jenner led a rush and lofted a pass that Rebecca Leslie knocked into the net with her shoulder.
New York ramped up the intensity in the second, as coach Greg Fargo’s squad made a concerted effort to drive the net hard against Philips — much to Ottawa’s displeasure. A highly physical frame culminated in six total penalties and two power plays for the Sirens.
Instead, the Charge reaped the rewards.
With the Sirens on a 4-on-3 advantage after a holding penalty on Leslie, Jenner led another rush and sent a shot off Osborne’s right pad. Jocelyne Larocque collected the long rebound in the slot and fired it into the net at 7:54 before Osborne could recover.
Peyton Hemp made it 3-1 at 14:08 of the middle frame, 37 seconds into New York’s fourth power play of the game. After Casey O’Brien’s pass trickled back into the Sirens zone, Maja Nylen Persson turned the puck over under heavy pressure from Hemp’s forecheck. Charge forward Alexa Vasko drove the goal line and slid a pass across the crease that Hemp punched into the net.
Ronja Savolainen added insurance at 3:15 of the third period, fooling Osborne with a long shot from the point. Jenner delivered the final blow on the power play at 12:28, burying the rebound of a Larocque shot.
Jenner ranks fourth League-wide in scoring with 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists) after a three-point outing Saturday. Leslie’s 13 goals are one shy of Minnesota Frost forward Kelly Pannek for the PWHL lead; her 22 points are tied for fifth with Fillier and Montreal Victoire forward Laura Stacey.
New York dropped its eighth straight road game (0-0-1-7) and fell to 2-0-1-10 on the road this season. Only the Seattle Torrent have a worse road points percentage. The Sirens close out the season with two more games away from Prudential Center, visiting the Toronto Sceptres on Tuesday and the Boston Fleet on April 25.
“I can’t put a finger on one specific thing, but we haven’t consistently scored first, especially at home,” Fargo noted postgame. “On the road, when you fall behind, you start chasing the game, and it becomes tough to climb back. At home, even if you don’t score first, the crowd can help shift momentum quickly. But when you’re chasing too often, it catches up to you — matchups get tougher, and things start stacking against you.”
Key takeaways after Sirens drop backbreaker to Charge
So you’re telling me there’s a chance?
The Sirens aren’t eliminated from playoff contention yet, though the picture isn’t pretty.
Saturday’s loss removed any control New York had over its playoff fate. With just six points available in their remaining schedule, the Sirens need a lot to go right — and a lot of help — to erase a five-point deficit in the PWHL standings.
If the Charge earn more than one point over their final two games, New York will be eliminated from postseason contention. Ottawa visits the second-place Fleet on Wednesday before hosting the Toronto Sceptres on April 25.
The fifth-place Sceptres, sitting at 34 points (9-1-5-12) with three games left, can also dash New York’s playoff dreams. The Sirens need Toronto to defeat Ottawa on April 25, but are otherwise rooting for the Sceptres to lose out. Toronto visits Minnesota on Sunday before hosting New York on Tuesday, setting up a final matchup against the Charge that will likely decide who lands the final playoff spot.
The final piece of this complex equation — and perhaps the most difficult for New York — is that the Sirens must earn at least five points over the next two games to have any hope of challenging for the No. 4 seed.
The Sirens currently own the tiebreaker over the Charge with a slim edge in regulation wins, and would get the postseason nod if the two teams finish the season tied. But New York would need two straight road wins — a tall ask for a team that hasn’t won on the road since Jan. 6.
Wilder things have happened, but the odds aren’t on their side.
Sirens get playoff teaser with ‘chippy’ game
The postseason stakes were evident Saturday, and it contributed to a playoff atmosphere — both on the ice and in the stands.
Ottawa racked up 25 hits in a game marked by constant physicality. The Charge punished New York for any drive near Philips’ crease, resulting in plenty of post-whistle scrums and even matching roughing penalties for Emmy Fecteau and Rory Guilday.
A record-setting crowd of 8,605 at TD Place matched the intensity all game long.
“I think you could see the rivalry out there for sure, and it was definitely getting chippy. But again, that’s what we want,” Sirens alternate captain Jaime Bourbonnais said postgame. “We’ve done a good job of building this sport up to be a really physical game, and I think that’s what the fans want to see, and hopefully we can continue that. I think the fans and the atmosphere really makes playing in these sorts of games special.”
It’s a good precursor for the postseason, where that intensity will become the norm — though New York might not be able to experience it firsthand.
Sirens’ power play stumbles again
New York snapped an 0-for-20 power-play drought Wednesday, when Maja Nylen Persson fired in the 2-2 equalizer against Toronto at 14:53 of the third period. Fargo believed an impactful goal like that could spark a slumping unit.
“You hope that something like that can kind of get it going,” Fargo said after a gutsy 3-2 regulation win. “I think scoring that goal at an important moment of our season, hopefully, can be something we can build on moving forward.”
For a moment, that seemed to be the case, as Levis’ power-play score gave New York an early lead. But any positive momentum came undone in the second period when Ottawa became the first team in PWHL history to score multiple shorthanded goals in the same game.
The Sirens allowed three jailbreak goals over their last two games — a black mark for a power play that was already struggling to produce offensively.
Those types of lapses can unravel a season in a razor-thin playoff race.
