The New York Sirens took on the Montreal Victoire in their second Takeover Tour game of the season and the first PWHL game in Washington D.C. Sunday.
The Sirens’ leading goal scorer this season, Kristýna Kaltounková got the Sirens on the board first when she scored her eighth goal of the year on the power play at 1:24 of the first period.
Near the end of the first period, Montréal tied the game up when defenseman Maggie Flaherty scored on a one-time slap shot from the blue line at 19:29.
With just over five minutes left in the second period, the Sirens’ 2024 first-overall draft pick Sarah Fillier won a face-off inside Montréal’s end and Paetyn Levis took a shot that deflected off of Anne Cherkowski and into the net. The goal was awarded to Cherkowski and assists were given to Levis and Fillier, who now has six assists on the season.
This was a very physical game with many hits that teetered on the edge of open-ice hits which are against PWHL rules. Nine penalties were given out to both teams and four were given to the Sirens. One such hit involved Montréal’s Skylar Irving illegally body-checking New York’s Lauren Bernard at 7:51 of the third period.
Montréal’s captain Marie Phillip Poulin had two opportunities to tie the game late in the third. The first one was a wrist shot from the face-off dot that Sirens’ goalie Kayle Osborne reached over and snagged with her glove on a Montréal power play. The second was a one-time slap shot from the same spot that Osborne stopped with her pads. Poulin’s first scoring chance was reviewed to see if the puck had crossed the goal-line, but on-ice officials determined there was no goal.
Montréal had momentum but at 17:44 of the third period, they lost it when former Siren forward Abby Roque took a two-minute tripping penalty. Roque’s penalty essentially sealed the win for New York.
However, in the last seconds of the game, a chaotic scrum broke out in front of the Sirens’ net after Osborne made a save. Eight players from both teams were given 10-minute game misconducts including Kaltounkova, Micah Zandee-Hart, Taylor Girard, and Maja Nylen-Persson. Girard was given an additional penalty for leaving the bench to take part in the scrum. The PWHL will likely review this altercation and further discipline may be necessary.
When the dust settled in D.C. on Sunday the Sirens had jumped from fourth place into second in the PWHL standings. New York’s next game will take place on January 20 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
