Rookie Sarah Fillier scores twice and tallies three points, while Cayla Barnes nets her first career goal as Montreal falls to New York
Rookie Sarah Fillier scores twice and tallies three points, while Cayla Barnes nets her first career goal as Montreal falls to New York
A clash of first-round draft picks unfolded on a snowy Wednesday night at Place Bell, with Sarah Fillier stealing the spotlight as she powered the New York Sirens to a 4-1 win over the Montreal Victoire.
The Victoire found themselves shorthanded early, taking two penalties in the first half of the opening period. Despite the disadvantage, Ann-Renée Desbiens’ ability to navigate through traffic, combined with active sticks in front of the net and timely rushes up the ice, helped kill off both penalties.
The Sirens kept pressing forward, outshooting the Victoire by nearly four to one. Desbiens battled hard to keep them at bay, denying chance after chance–until a bad giveaway set up a tap-in by none other than Fillier, the Sirens’ top pick in the 2024 draft, who netted her first professional goal.
Only a minute into the second period, Victoire fifth-overall pick Cayla Barnes responded to Fillier’s goal with one of her own. After receiving a pass from Ohio State teammate Jennifer Gardiner, Barnes raced up the ice, sliced through the defence, and fired a backhand shot top shelf.
“I saw a chance and I just took it, kind of exploded out of the gate there,” Barnes said of her first career PWHL goal. “I was hoping that it would go in the back of the net, and luckily it did.”
“For me to do that for her the other night and then she Uno reverse it on me tonight, it’s exciting,” Barnes said of Gardiner, whom she assisted in the opening game four nights ago. “I’m happy that she was able to make that pass and I was able to capitalize on it.”
A pair of power play chances went unused for the Victoire, who failed to convert and shift the momentum. That missed opportunity proved costly when, midway through the third period, Fillier fed Alex Carpenter for a quick transition goal to break the deadlock.
With just three minutes remaining and on the power play, Cheverie took a gamble, pulling Desbiens and placing Barnes on the first unit. The move backfired when Quebec native Jade Downie-Landry sealed the win with an empty-net goal for the Sirens, drawing cheers from the hometown crowd.
As the game came to a close, Fillier wrapped up a solid performance with her second goal of the night, totaling three points. She now sits atop the league with five points in two games.
“That game went from being 2-2 to 4-1 like that,” head coach Kori Cheverie said. “But I like our chances six-on-five [...]. And I think as a coaching staff, it’s important for us to show to our players that, ‘Hey, we want to win, and we can still win this in regulation.’”
“Tonight it didn’t work out,” Cheverie said, though she remains confident in her team’s aggressive strategy with the extra attacker. “We’ll go back to the drawing board.”
Looking ahead, the Victoire begin a three-game road trip, looking to build momentum before returning home on Dec. 30 to host the Boston Fleet.