Sirens’ Slow Start Against the Goldeneyes Costs Them Crucial Points
Courtesy of Jill Meagher
After falling 4-3 to the Minnesota Frost in Denver, Colorado for the city’s second Takeover Tour game on March 15, the New York Sirens continued on their road trip with the next game being against the Vancouver Goldeneyes. New York came into this matchup with just one win in their last four games since returning from the Olympic break and desperately needed to pick up points in order to get back into a playoff spot. Unfortunately for the Sirens, this game went bad to worse almost as soon as the puck dropped.
Just 2:58 into the contest, Sarah Fillier went to the box for a slashing penalty and the Goldeneyes wasted no time on the player advantage as Anna Shokhina scored on the power play to get Vancouver out to an early lead. Not even two minutes later, Anna Segedi scored her first career PWHL goal to lengthen the Goldeneyes’ lead to 2-0. The Sirens had a quick response though as FIllier netted her fourth of the season to get the Sirens on the board and avoid the shutout, but there was still a lot of work to be done. Vancouver found the back of the net again towards the end of the first period when Sophie Jaques scored to make it 3-1 Goldeneyes heading into the first intermission.
In the second period, the Sirens came out much stronger after a slow start, but the only goal was scored by Sirens rookie Anna Bargman. That put New York back within one goal which made tying the game and regaining the lead seem within reach, except the Sirens just couldn’t get there. The Goldeneyes controlled the rest of the game and scored two more goals in the final 20 minutes, one coming from Tereza Vanišová and the empty netter was scored by Mannon McMahon. The final score was 5-2 and the Sirens lost their fourth straight road game, setting a season-high in that category. New York is nearing the danger zone as they sit in sixth place in the standings with 24 points and nine games remaining on the season while Vancouver is just three points back and has a game in hand on the teams in front of them.
Sirens Head Coach Greg Fargo once again spoke about his team’s response after a slow first period, but how that still wasn’t enough to secure a win. “We had a good response in the second period and started to find our game by simplifying. We got pucks behind them and established more of the game we wanted. I liked our response in the second, but we couldn’t come up with what we needed late. In the third, there was a strong push, but we couldn’t get a timely goal.”
A highlight of this game is that Fillier recorded her 44th career point and passed Alex Carpenter to become the Siren’s all-time leading scorer. Fillier is part of the core that makes the Sirens successful and she’s having yet another great season to follow up her stunning rookie campaign.
The Sirens are back in action on Wednesday, MArch 25 when they take on the Seattle Torrent in Chicago for another Takeover Tour Game. Puck drop is scheduled for 8 PM EST.