Lou Orlando
The New York Sirens picked the wrong time to hit a skid. The Sirens fell 5-2 to the Vancouver Goldeneyes on Wednesday in a mistake-ridden affair at Pacific Coliseum.
Vancouver snapped a four-game losing streak (0-0-2-2) with its first win since Jan. 25. The Sirens are 1-0-0-4 since returning from the PWHL’s Olympic break. They’ve won just one of their last eight games (1-0-2-5).
New York allowed five goals to a slumping Goldeneyes offense — Vancouver entered play averaging a League-low 1.8 goals per game. Sirens goalie Kayle Osborne stopped 24 of 28 shots before Mannon McMahon’s empty-netter at 19:42 of the third period sealed the win.
Just like in Sunday’s 4-3 loss to the Minnesota Frost, the Sirens lagged out of the gate. Vancouver opened with seven straight shots — and turned that early edge into an early lead.
With three seconds left on a Sarah Fillier hooking penalty, Goldeneyes forward Anna Shokhina toe-dragged to the high slot and beat Osborne glove-side at 4:55 of the first period, aided by a screen by former Sirens forward Gabby Rosenthal. It marked Vancouver’s first power-play goal since Jan. 3, snapping an 0-for-21 drought across nine games. It was Shokhina’s first goal with the Goldeneyes following a Jan. 18 trade.
Less than two minutes later, rookie forward Anna Segedi doubled Vancouver’s lead. Michelle Karvinen dug the puck free and fed the third-round pick (No. 22 overall) between the circles, where she beat Osborne for her first career PWHL goal and point at 6:48.
Just 27 seconds later, Sarah Fillier cut New York’s deficit to 2-1, deflecting a Maja Nylen Persson shot off a faceoff at 7:15. Fillier’s fourth of the season pushed her past Alex Carpenter as New York’s all-time scoring leader with 44 points (17 goals, 27 assists).
But Vancouver tilted the ice for the remainder of the frame. Goldeneyes defender Sophie Jaques made it 3-1 at 16:00 of the first, firing a long shot that deflected off Sirens defender Lauren Bernard and found the top shelf.
New York trailed 12-5 in shots through the opening 20 minutes. All three of Vancouver’s tallies beat Osborne on her glove side.
The Goldeneyes continued to control play early in the second period, creating several rush chances, including a 2-on-1 with Sarah Nurse and Izzy Daniels. Osborne stopped all nine shots in the middle frame to keep New York in striking distance.
Rookie forward Anna Bargman trimmed the lead to 3-2 at 13:19, redirecting a long shot from defender Nicole Vallario, who was activated from the team’s reserve list and signed to a 10-day contract Wednesday morning. Fresh off a two-point effort Sunday, Bargman’s second goal in as many games set the Sirens up for another late rally.
But the Sirens failed to crack Goldeneyes goalie Kristen Campbell in the third period. Campbell finished the night with 22 saves on 24 shots, stopping all nine in the final frame.
Vancouver extended its lead to 4-2 at 5:27 when Tereza Vanišová’s left-circle wrister popped off Osborne’s blocker and into the net. McMahon delivered the finishing blow with her empty-netter in the game’s closing minute.
“I thought tonight we had a pretty good response in the second period, started to find our game there a little and establish more of the game that we wanted,” Sirens coach Greg Fargo noted postgame. “So I liked our response in the second period, but just couldn’t come up with what we needed late. I thought there was a strong effort to put a push on, but we couldn’t get a timely one that we needed.”
The already banged-up Sirens squad — without star rookie Casey O’Brien (day-to-day) and third-year forward Taylor Girard (out for the season) on Wednesday — faced more injury scares in the third. Kristyna Kaltounkova left the ice after absorbing a heavy hit from Jaques midway through the frame; she returned shortly and finished with 22:19 of ice time. Not long after, Vanišová hurtled into the New York crease on a breakaway and collided with Osborne’s left leg. Osborne’s leg was pinned against the post and awkwardly stretched out, but she remained in the game.
Fillier retaliated on behalf of the visibly angered Sirens at 15:35 of the third, cross-checking Goldeneyes forward Abby Boreen right below the mask. Fillier served a two-minute cross-checking penalty.
Vancouver is perfect (5-0-0-0) this season when they score first. New York is 2-0-3-9 when conceding the opening goal. Osborne allowed four goals for the second consecutive game.
Defender Jaime Bourbonnais extended her points streak to three games and recorded a career-high eight hits The Sirens set a season high in hits, finishing with 34-30 edge over the Goldeneyes.
New York won 65.4 percent of its faceoffs Wednesday, led by Kristin O’Neill (12-for-16) and Kaltounkova (11-for-16). Recently acquired forward Clair DeGeorge did not dress after signing a standard player agreement Wednesday morning. Rookie defender Dayle Ross logged 2:09 as the team’s 12th forward against Vancouver.
Key takeaways after Sirens suffer sloppy loss to Goldeneyes
Sirens ‘have to be better’ in final stretch
Slow starts have become a troubling pattern for New York during its recent malaise. Once again, the Sirens dug themselves an early hole Wednesday, allowing three goals in the first 16:00.
“If we want different results, we have to find a way to start games better. It’s a really simple recipe,” Fargo stated bluntly. “Once we’re able to find our game, there’s a lot to like, but it’s been far too much of a consistent theme that our starts have been hurting us, and it shows up in a lot of different ways. When we find our game, we’re great — but we’re spotting teams too many goals early on.”
Fillier’s deflection goal provided a brief respite from Vancouver’s relentless attack, but New York spent much of the opening frame on its heels.
The Sirens showed better fight in the final 40 minutes, but defensive lapses persisted throughout. Vancouver generated a plethora of odd-man rushes and breakaway opportunities — all things considered, New York was lucky to escape with only five goals allowed.
“It’s simple things,” Fargo explained. “It starts with a simple commitment to win battles. It starts with a commitment to get pucks in deep. When we can establish a forecheck and get our game going, we can start to build some momentum, but unfortunately, we weren’t ready to compete early on, and that’s the difference.”
The Sirens picked a bad time to struggle with commitment in the dirty areas of the ice. With nine games left in the regular season, New York sits four points out of a playoff spot at 27 points (8-0-3-10). They are closer in the PWHL standings to the seventh-place Goldeneyes (24 points) than the fourth-place Toronto Sceptres (31 points).
“We know the stakes each game. We can’t go into games not getting a point, and we know we have to be better in this stretch,” Fillier asserted. “We put ourselves in not a great position for the end of our season here, and we know we have to make a push.”
The Sirens have the talent to make that push, but inconsistency could be their undoing.
Anna Bargman quietly rising up New York’s ranks
One of the biggest headlines for New York has been its rookies. First-round picks Kaltounkova (No. 1 overall) and Casey O’Brien (No. 3 overall) quickly ascended to stardom, while Maddi Wheeler (No. 27 overall) and Anne Cherkowski (No. 9 overall) locked down top-six roles within the first month.
Bargman, however, flew under the radar. The fifth-round pick (No. 33 overall) out of Yale University saw limited fourth-line minutes, even after recording her first career goal on Jan. 2 in a win over the Montreal Victoire.
Injuries pushed Bargman into the top nine, and the 23-year-old capitalized. Bargman recorded three points (two goals, one assist) in her last two games, primarily skating on the third line. She logged career-high ice time in both — 10:20 on Sunday and 11:39 on Wednesday.
“I think it’s just a product of everyone around me,” Bargman said postgame. “Trying to stick to my identity and how my identity fits into the team’s identity. To get rewarded is great, but I think that just sticking together is going to help the team in the long run.”
Bargman is tied for fourth on the team with four goals. Her six points rank fifth among Sirens rookies.
Fillier etches name into Sirens record books
Fillier added another entry to her already historic PWHL career, overtaking former linemate Alex Carpenter for the most points in Sirens history.
Carpenter tallied 19 goals and 43 points in 50 games with New York. Fillier reached 44 in the same span.
Fillier leads New York with 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) this season. She is tied for 10th in League scoring and ranks third in assists.
At 25, Fillier has already cemented herself among the PWHL’s top point producers. In her 2024-25 rookie campaign, she tied Hilary Knight for the League-lead with 29 points (13 goals, 16 assists). She ranks second all-time in points-per-game at 0.88, trailing only Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin.
Fillier and the Sirens return next Wednesday to take on the Seattle Torrent in Chicago as part of the PWHL’s 2025-26 Takeover Tour.
