NEWARK —Ten days off weren't enough to jumpstart a slumping New York Sirens offense. In their first game following a week-long PWHL international break , the Sirens were shut out 2-0 by the Boston Fleet on Wednesday, their third time held without a goal in six games this season.
New York (2-0-0-4) lost its third game in a row and failed to score a goal for a second straight game. The first-place Fleet improved to 5-0-0-0, continuing the best start to a season in PWHL history.
Once again, Boston's All-Star goaltender Aerin Frankel took center stage, stopping all 33 shots she faced for her League-leading third shutout of the season. Through five games, the New York State native sports a microscopic 0.40 goals against average (GAA) and outstanding .985 save percentage, both of which are tops among PWHL goalies .
Following an unsuccessful trip out west two weeks ago, Sirens coach Greg Fargo made changes to his top-nine forward group, rearranging the rookies ahead of puck drop Wednesday.
Kristyna Kaltounkova, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 PWHL Draft, joined New York's top line for the first time this season. Fellow rookie Anne Cherkowski (No. 9 overall) remained on the right wing, and Sarah Fillier slid over to center.
Also, fourth-round pick Maddi Wheeler (No. 27 overall) bumped up to left wing on the second line,and No. 3 overall pick Casey O'Brien dropped down to center a third line with Elle Hartje and Taylor Girard.
But despite a strong opening shift from the newly-formed second line, the Sirens were on their heels for much of the first period. To their credit, they gained the upper hand by period's end, spurred on by a holding-the-stick penalty by old friend Jill Saulnier, the former New York forward now with Boston, at 14:47.
New York's top power-play unit, now featuring O'Brien instead of Cherkowski, sustained offensive pressure for over a minute, although they couldn't break the seal on Frankel. The Sirens failed to net their first power-play goal of the season, but the momentum from the advantage fueled a late offensive surge, with New York outshooting Boston 6-0 in the final five minutes.
"I thought our power play tonight gave us momentum," Fargo stated. "And in the first period, we had one — I thought it started to change the game a little bit for us. The next few shifts were back in our favor when we got [to] 5-on-5."
Physicality ramped up in the second period, when Sirens defender Allyson Simpson and Fleet second-rounder (No. 10 overall) Ella Huber took matching roughing penalties 1:16 into the frame. Not long after, Huber made her mark again — this time on the score sheet.
Moments after Kaltounkova rang the post on a shot that would've given New York the lead, Boston's prized rookie defender Haley Winn (No. 2 overall) flipped the puck high into the offensive zone. The play caught Sirens defender Jaime Bourbonnais pinching up at the blue line, and left Lauren Bernard alone to defend a 2-on-1 with Huber and Susanna Tapani.
"We've been practicing a lot of 2-on-1's recently," Huber revealed postgame. "And I've been told to have a shooter's mentality."
It paid off for her. Opening up her body towards Tapani at center ice, Huber continued to drive the net, beating Sirens goalie Kayle Osborne with a top-shelf snipe that gave the Fleet a 1-0 lead at 5:27 of the second period.
Bourbonnais took accountability for the eventual game-winning goal postgame.
"I got caught in a bad spot there, for sure," New York's alternate captain admitted. "Would want that one back."
Boston extended its lead to 2-0 at 9:46 of the second, when Liv Schepers jammed in a rebound off a long shot from Fleet defender Megan Keller.
That would be all for the scoring, but there was plenty more action after the whistles.
Simpson took her second roughing penalty of the period at 13:20, engaging in a skirmish with Boston forward Jamie Lee Rattray that sparked a larger scrum by the blue line. Seconds earlier, Fleet defenders Zoe Boyd and Riley Brengman pinned Sirens forward Kristin O'Neill down on the ice in front of the Boston net.
The fireworks continued in the third, when New York center Kayla Vespa challenged Sophie Shirley after the Fleet forward's boarding penalty sent Emmy Fecteau head-first into the wall.
The Sirens outshot the Fleet 33-21 and placed 25 shots on goal in the final two frames. But thanks to yet another marvelous effort from Frankel, they had nothing to show for all their offensive chances.
"I wouldn't change a lot of the game tonight — y'know, other than the results," Fargo declared postgame. "I think when you look back at it, we carried a lot of the play. We had some great chances. We didn't score on those chances."
Unfortunately, that's been the tale for the Sirens of late. Though they outscored opponents 9-1 in their two wins, the Sirens surrendered 12 goals and scored just once in four losses.
Osborne kept the Sirens in the game, stopping 19 of 21 shots, but Frankel was better. Thanks to another gem from Team USA's No. 1 goalie, Boston allowed just two goals through five contests and sports a plus-11 goal differential, good for first in the League.
Yet Fargo's counterpart, Fleet coach Kris Sparre, wasn't head over heels with his squad's performance.
"It was a clunky game for us," assessed the first-year head coach. "We looked like a team that just took 10 days off. But at the same time, the word 'resiliency' comes to mind. We find a way — and obviously Aerin Frankel gave us a chance to do that."
Boston has now won eight consecutive games against the Sirens, the longest active winning streak between any two teams in the PWHL.
Aerin Frankel — courtesy of PWHL
The Sirens can't chalk up all of their issues to the opposing goaltender, but it certainly was a legit excuse Wednesday.
Frankel weathered numerous flurries, three promising power plays, and a two-and-a-half-minute stretch of 6-on-5 play to close the third period. Somehow, the 26-year-old emerged unscathed.
She's started every game for Boston thus far, boasting a perfect 5-0-0 record and leads all goalies in goals saved above expected (GSAx), according to PWHL Analytics . And perhaps the wildest stat of all, Frankel now has more shutouts this season (three) than goals allowed (two).
"It'd be really hard to not call her the best goalie in the world," Sparre lauded postgame. "She's a warrior in there. She has such a high standard that she sets for herself, and you see it every game."
Two things can be true at once. The Sirens need better finishing, but it's hard to get anything past Frankel right now.
Kristyna Kaltounkova — courtesy of PWHL
The Sirens' forward lines were decidedly different in their return from the international break.
"Coming off the last couple games, we're not finishing at the rate that we want to," Fargo admitted postgame. "It had been five games at that point, and we hadn't made any real changes to our offensive lines — so just a shake-up."
It did little to change the end result. After mustering just one goal in two games out west against the Seattle Torrent and Vancouver Goldeneyes , New York's offense fell silent once again. That said, there's a lot to like about the new combinations.
Kaltounkova only has one goal through six games, but she's been the most noticeable Sirens rookie so far — for better or worse.
Her 22 shots rank second on the team, trailing Fillier, and third in the League. She's third in the PWHL with 2.32 individual expected goals, per PWHL Analytics . She's an aggressive offensive force with a lightning-fast shot. Thus, it makes sense to pair her with New York's best playmaker in Fillier, as well as another talented rookie in Cherkowski.
The reallocation of Wheeler and O'Brien seems to be an effort to lengthen the lineup and add more scoring in the bottom six. O'Brien was an effective play-driver on the third line, recording a career-high four shots and using her speed to create chances off the rush. Hartje and Girard don't have the same offensive upside as her previous linemates, but it's worth a look to take some pressure off the top six.
That said, Girard recorded a hat trick in the season opener, and still leads the Sirens with three goals, even though she's without one since.
And for what it's worth, New York doesn't lose too much by bumping Wheeler up. Wheeler's three points (three assists) lead all Sirens rookies, and she ranks third in the League with 12 hits. In the long run, she's probably better suited for a bottom-six role, but it's not as if she'll look out of place on the second line.
It all hinges on Fillier sliding over to play center, allowing Fargo to drop an exciting playmaker like O'Brien further down the lineup.
"I think putting Sarah back in the middle gives us another element," the Sirens coach explained. "It allows us to be really deep down the middle, and that's kind of what we talked about."
Worth noting, Fillier is 8-for-23 (34.8 percent) on face-offs this season, including 5-of-13 on Wednesday. It wasn't an issue for her last season, when the PWHL Rookie of the Year won 58.9 percent of draws on 129 attempts.
Sarah Fillier and Casey O'Brien — courtesy of PWHL
Fargo made a subtle personnel switch with his power-play, bumping Cherkowski off the top unit in favor of O'Brien. It's a decision he insists is purely about handedness.
"Our power play, to me, is not anything personnel related," Fargo said Tuesday. "Just changing where people are on the power play to put them in favorable spots from a handedness standpoint, and the ice that they see. That's something that we thought we could improve upon."
New York's power play passed the eye test, but it didn't translate to the stat sheet. The Sirens were 0-for-3 on Wednesday and are now 0-for-16 on the to open the season.
Nonetheless, they remain undeterred.
"I think the change in the setup brings a bit more variety in how we can attack," noted Fillier. "We're getting good chances and pucks are on the crease. We just gotta bury one here."
The Sirens' next chance to end the skid is Sunday, when they host Ella Shelton and the Toronto Sceptres.
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