Despite dominating the first period, the New York Sirens couldn't get the job done in the latest PWHL Takeover Tour game in Detroit on Saturday afternoon, falling to the Montreal Victoire 3-1. Montreal scored three unanswered goals in the third period for a strong comeback victory in the first nationally-televised PWHL game.
Victoire improved to 46 points (12-4-2-5) and extended its points streak to 11 games (7-2-2-0). They are two points behind the Boston Fleet for first place overall in the PWHL.
New York missed a chance to move ahead of the fourth-place Toronto Raptors after Boston beat Toronto 4-0 on Friday. After losing their fourth consecutive competition, the Sirens remain four behind Sceptres in the standings with 27 points (8-0-3-12); Each team has seven games left in the regular season.
Katherine Dubois took the lead in the third period with two goals just 4:44 apart. Alternate captain Laura Stacey added some relief, extending the lead just 49 seconds after Dubois' second tally. Victoire goalkeeper Anne-Renée Desbiens took over the rest, allowing one or fewer goals for the 13th time this season.
Sirens goaltender Kayleigh Osborne suffered her fourth consecutive loss despite a strong start, stopping Montreal's first 17 shots. In her league-leading 22nd appearance of the season she finished with 26 saves on 29 attempts.
New York kept things quiet for Osborne by outshooting Montreal 11–2 in the opening frame. Jade Downey-Landry recorded Montreal's first shot at 1:58, but Victoire went 14:26 without another shot until Michigan native Shian Darkangelo ended the drought at 16:24.
The Sirens took the lead into the first half for the first time since March 8, thanks to Casey O'Brien's sixth goal of the season. Jaime Bourbonnais' one-timer went past Desbiens, and O'Brien crashed the net to bury the loose puck at 9:09.
O'Brien extended his point streak to three games. The 2025 No. 3 overall pick leads all PWHL rookies with 16 points (six goals, 10 assists).
Coach Greg Fargo offered after the game, "I thought today was a different story for us than the last few games." "We got off to a great start. I thought our first period was as good as we've played."
Montreal took the momentum in the second round by defeating New York 15–7. The Sirens maintained the lead thanks to the composed play of Osborne, who stopped Lena Ljungblom on a breakaway and denied Hayley Scamurra twice in a row. Desbiens was just as quick, stopping O'Brien on two breakaways.
New York nearly took a 2–0 lead at 7:54 when Kristin O'Neal deflected a point shot from Micah Zandi-Hart, but the officials ruled out a clear goal for high-sticking after review.
Victoire maintained its lead in the third period – only this time, it showed on the scoreboard.
Dubois took advantage of a miscue by Siren rookie Anna Bergman to equalize at 1:54. The 2025 fifth-round pick (No. 33 overall) sent a cross-ice pass straight to the stick of Victoire rookie Natalie Mlinkova, who quickly led the Montreal Rush and knocked the puck back to Dubois in the high slot. Bergman then collided with Siren forward Claire Degeroge as Dubois stretched it to the left point and fired a wrist shot over Osborne's blocker.
Dubois gave Montreal its first lead of the day at 6:40 of the third minute, when a slick backhand feed from Darkangelo set up the 30-year-old for a one-touch shot through Osborne's five-hole. Stacey immediately redirected defender Kati Tabin's long shot to make it 3–1 at 7:29.
Victoire Fourcheque suppressed any possibility of the siren's return. New York managed one shot after Montreal took the lead – a Sarah Fillear wrister at 19:47 broke a 14:06 shotless stretch.
“Momentum is a funny thing,” Fargo reflected. “You get a little bit, and I think Montreal started to get a little bit more as that second [period] Close, and they took it to third for good. Some mistakes hurt us.”
Sirens lost for the second time this season after scoring the first goal (6-0-0-2). New York's points percentage dropped to .391, more than 50 percentage points below the fourth-place Sceptres (.449) and fifth-place Ottawa Charge (.455).
New York was without rookie star Kristina Kaltunkova, who missed her second consecutive game with an unspecified injury. The 2025 No. 1 overall pick is day by day.
Detroit native Elle Hartje joined Fillier and O'Brien in New York's starting lineup in front of a crowd of 15,938 at Little Caesars Arena. He won four of six face-offs and recorded one shot on goal in 15:15 of ice time.
"It's been great to be home. That's a hard question to answer right now," Hartje said after the game. "Obviously, it's about hockey, so not getting the 'W' is pretty disappointing, but it's great to see Hockeytown represented all the time."
Victoire: The siren failed in the third period against the takeaways
New York flips the script on first period problems
The struggles of the Sirens' first period are well documented. New York entered the opening frame on Saturday with the most goals scored (26) — an even greater increase from the minus-eight goal differential since the Olympic break.
They flipped the script against Victoire thanks to a strong forecheck and impressive play from their top forward line of Fillier, Anne Cherkovski and O'Brien.
"I don't think we need to change anything," O'Brien insisted during the first intermission.
This is easy to say but not easy to do. New York was outrebounded 27–13 in the final 40 minutes, having only six shots and three scoring chances in the third.
"Some parts of our game that we liked – the way we were handling the puck – as the game went on, we started to get away from it a little bit for one reason or another," Fargo explained. “We have to find a way to match and exceed that effort moving forward.”
Despite strong offensive pressure out of the gate, the Sirens failed to finish second behind reigning PWHL Goalkeeper of the Year Desbiens. New York was clearly frustrated when Dubois tied the score in the third and offered little resistance in the face of a heavy Montreal forecheck.
"When we have a tough game or something that ends up in the back of your net, we've got to find a way to respond a little better in those moments, because bad things are going to happen," Fargo said. "we know that."
The sirens are still chasing 'the full 60 minutes of hockey'
There are some serious issues in New York right now, but continuity is key.
O'Brien said after the game, "I don't think we've played a full 60 minutes of Siren hockey in a long time." "And we know that if we do that, we'll win."
Whether it's a slow start or a late-game collapse, the end result has been all too familiar lately. And at this stage of the season, the Sirens cannot afford to leave points on the table.
"I think the important thing for us is to stay connected to our game on a more consistent basis," Fargo said. "Playing a complete game with good habits, great structure and great energy – that's what it takes to win at this level. You can see that the difference between winning and losing in the PWHL is really small."
Even as the Sirens entered the Olympic break in a playoff spot, questions arose from time to time about their consistency, especially with such a young roster. Those concerns only grew with this second half's decline.
Fargo added, "We have to put together 60 minutes of hockey with our habits and the details of our game." "The team is working through it. They want to win. We all want to win, and it's going to change for us. We just have to stay on track with what we're doing."
New York doesn't have much time to right the ship.
Do you get déjà vu?
The Sirens lost six out of seven games after the Olympic break and nine out of 10 through January 20. If this vibe sounds oddly familiar, you're not imagining things.
In 2024–25, the Sirens lost nine consecutive games (0-0-3-6) from January 31 to March 5. They finished the season last in the PWHL, missing the playoffs by seven points.
This year's team still has a chance to avoid that fate, but it will need a sharp turnaround to do so.
"Obviously, nobody likes to lose, so I'm not happy about it, but I don't think anybody is disappointed," O'Brien said. “We all know what a great team we have.”
If the Sirens look for a spark to break out of this slump, they will have to find it on home ice. New York returns to the Prudential Center on Wednesday to host the Minnesota Frost before Saturday's matchup against the Seattle Torrent in front of a Madison Square Garden crowd.
