Courtesy of the PWHL
The New York Sirens returned home to the Prudential Center to take on the Montreal Victoire for just the second time this season. The Sirens got the 4-1 win over the Victoire on Dec. 4 but these two teams come into this matchup with very different recent stretches of hockey.
Montreal had won four straight games coming into Sunday’s matchup, having outscored opponents 14-7 with the most recent victory being a 4-3 shootout win over the Toronto Sceptres on Jan. 30. New York had lost two of their last five, most recently falling 3-2 in the shootout to the Boston Fleet on Jan. 31. But the biggest loss of the game was Alex Carpenter going down with an injury. She was not in the lineup against the Victoire so the Sirens would need to majorly adjust with one of their best players out of the lineup.
Following a ceremonial puck drop that featured Kim Davis, NHL Executive Vice President of Social Impact, Growth Initiatives, and Legislative Affairs, to celebrate Black History Month, the game was on and both teams started off with a strong pace. Offensive zone pressure was maintained at different times for both New York and Montreal, but a goal wasn’t scored on either side. It didn’t take long for this contest to get chippy as a few Sirens players started shoving and pushing Victoire’s Laura Stacey. The first power play of the game went to Montreal as Ally Simpson sat for boarding. The Victoire couldn’t capitalize on the advantage and the period came to an end with the 0-0 score being unchanged.
Captain Clutch herself didn’t waste any time to put her team on the board early in the second. Marie-Philip Poulin scored her league-leading ninth goal of the season to give Montreal the 1-0 early just 34 seconds into the second period. Just four minutes later, it was Poulin who found the back of the net again to extend the Victoire’s lead to 2-0. With those two tallies, Poulin tied Natalie Spooner for the most all-time regular season PWHL goals with 20. The Sirens got their first power play of the game 11:36 into the middle frame when Lina Ljungblom sat two minutes for roughing, but they couldn’t capitalize.
With 6:12 remaining in the second, Jade Downie-Landry and Poulin were involved in a big collision that saw Downie-Landry leave for the locker room. After a lengthy review, Poulin received a five minute major for charging which put the Sirens back on the power play. Downie-Landry did return shortly after and took several shifts on the advantage which was unsuccessful for New York. The period ended with Montreal holding the 2-0 lead.
Courtesy of the New York Sirens
The Sirens tried to regain momentum in the third and had a few great scoring chances, but everything was either an incomplete play or stopped by Victoire goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens. New York was able to get on the board with just about six minutes left in regulation when Simpson scored her first career PWHL goal to make the score 2-1. Sarah Fillier got the primary assist on the tally which moved her into sole possession of the league lead in points. Not long after, Ljungblom went to the box again this time for holding at 15:26 and the Sirens attempted to tie the game but came up empty both on the power play and the minute or so of 6-on-5 play with their goaltender pulled.
When the buzzer sounded, Montreal got the 2-1 victory which extended their win streak to five straight games. The Victoire are also the first team to record a regulation win against all five other PWHL teams this season.
The PWHL will now pause for an international break, but with a five game win streak in hand, Montreal wants to carry the momentum from this streak over to when play resumes. Victoire Head Coach Kori Cheverie spoke about that in the postgame press conference.
“We have a great staff and great players that are leaving and staying in terms of the international break, and so I think everybody is on a mission, that's for us as a team.” said Cheverie. “We've set some goals that we keep to ourselves, but we know what they are. We are preparing our players that are staying in Montréal and the players playing for their respective countries will be focused on that, but when they come back, they'll be excited to see each other again. It's a very close group, and there's a lot of love in that group.”
Although the Sirens didn’t get the win, there was something positive that came out of this contest and that was Simpson scoring her first career goal in the PWHL. “To get on the board and score like that for your first in the league, it’s been great.” Simpson said. “To get that monkey off your back so many games into the season, it’s nice to finally get one and get rewarded in that way. Not the outcome we wanted but we made a good push for it in the third and I was happy to be able to contribute.”
The New York Sirens will return to action after the international break on Wednesday, Feb. 12 to take on the Boston Fleet at the Prudential Center. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 PM EST.
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