Courtesy of Yamini Dalal Photography/Sports Girls Club
As Olivia Rodrigo has famously said, “do you get deja vu?” That’s what it felt like on January 7 when the New York Sirens welcomed the Ottawa Charge back to the Prudential Center for the second time in just nine days. The Charge got an impressive 3-1 win the last time these teams met and the Sirens were looking to even the season series on Tuesday.
Ottawa’s most recent game was a 2-1 win over the Toronto Sceptres on December 31 and the Sirens got a dominant 5-0 shutout win over the Minnesota Frost in their last contest on January 4. Both teams were looking to continue their winning ways, but there can only be one victorious squad at the end of the night.
The first period was a back and forth affair, but it felt like Ottawa was putting more pucks on net than New York. Kayle Osborne, in her PWHL debut, made some gorgeous saves to keep the Charge off the board. Just 4:35 into the opening frame, Ella Shelton got a puck past Ottawa’s goaltender, Emerance Maschmeyer, for her first goal of the season in her second game since returning from injury. The Sirens held the 1-0 lead for just over a minute as the Charge’s Danielle Serdachny found the back of the net for her second of the season to even the score at 1-1. Ottawa continued to keep the pressure on and was rewarded when Shiann Darkangelo scored to make it 2-1. Two of Darkangelo’s three goals this season have come against the Sirens.
Courtesy of Yamini Dalal Photography/Sports Girls Club
The Sirens came out strong to start the middle frame by maintaining consistent pressure in the offensive zone and peppering Maschmeyer with shots. New York also got the first power play opportunity of the game when Charge captain Brianne Jenner went to the box for an interference minor, but there was no goal scored on the advantage. Ottawa seemingly took over again and was able to extend their lead when Emily Clark scored her third goal of the season to make it 3-1. New York received two more power play opportunities as Zoe Boyd sat for two different penalties throughout the remainder of the second period and despite having a few good looks, the home team wasn’t able to find the back of the net.
The start of the final 20 minutes followed in the same fashion: great chances for both sides, lots of physicality and plenty of shots on net. The Sirens were finally able to capitalize on the momentum they’ve been building throughout the entire game when Maja Nylen Persson scored her first career PWHL goal to make the score 3-2. That’s the score that held through the remainder of the game, giving the Charge their third straight win.
Courtesy of Yamini Dalal Photography/Sports Girls Club
“Really proud of our group. It can be hard to be on the road and we just stayed the course. We obviously understood coming into the season we were going to face this moment because of World Juniors, but really proud of our group and how we continued to just embrace it.” Charge Head Coach Carla MacLeod said about the long road trip the team has been on now that they are returning to Ottawa for the first time in over a month.
The Charge once again did not allow the Sirens to score a power play goal and Head Coach Greg Fargo spoke about why New York couldn’t make the most of the advantage in this game.
“There were some moments on the power play where I thought we did a nice job, but we kind of stepped back into a little bit of a habit where we’re just kind of playing on the perimeter. We did a nice job of getting in the lanes, blocking some attempts, but much like the rest of the game tonight, I think there were moments at times where our urgency level to get to the interior wasn’t where it needs to be. And that was evident today on the power play.”
The Sirens are back in action on Sunday, January 12 to take on the Toronto Sceptres at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey with puck drop at 12 PM EST.
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