In A New York Minute Everything Can Change, And It Has For The Sirens

NEWARK, N.J. -- As the song that often blares across the sound system at The Prudential Center goes: In a New York Minute, everything can change.

For the New York Sirens, that 'minute' was actually two hours and 37 minutes of defining moments on a very special Sunday culminating with a 6-2 victory over the Ottawa Charge at the Prudential Center.

Ottawa's dominance in New Jersey? New York's five-game losing streak? Sarah Fillier's scoring drought? The Sirens' productivity at home? Power-play inefficiency? A three-quarters empty arena? Relocation talk? All seemed to melt away like the snow outside in downtown Newark.

New York's women's pro hockey team clearly wanted to be at their best with some of this area's best in women's sports looking on along with a record-shattering and highly exuberant crowd of 8,264.

The attendees included members of 2025 NWSL champion Gotham FC; New Jersey native Tobin Heath, a two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist; Christen Press, a two-time World Cup champion and one of the top scorers in U.S. Women’s National Team history; and players from the New York Exiles of Women’s Professional Elite Rugby.

Even before puck drop in the noon showdown, and as the team was ready to take the ice, the video scoreboard showed Sirens' alternate captain Jaime Bourbonnais outside the dressing room repeatedly waving her glove upward encouraging the fans to raise an already high noise level. The rest of the Sirens' players followed suit, and the gestures clearly sent the crowd into a fever pitch as they skated onto the ice.

There is an expression in sports that it's not how you start but how you finish. That statement is not quite accurate when it comes to this particular New York performance as three goals in the first period and another three in the third demonstrated a solid start and an even better finish.

In between, these two teams battled like heavyweights willing to pummel their opponent at every opportunity during the very physical action. There were over 40 recorded hits -- several jarring jersey-on-jersey takedowns. Two illegal hits -- one for each team --resulted in penalties, while many others were wipeouts along the walls and other high-contact play.

After the Charge pulled to within 3-2 just over three minutes into the final frame, a switch seemed to go off in New York's will and conviction. Their body chemistry dramatically shifted into full aggressor mode, with the mindset being that there was no way they were going to lose this game in front of this crowd.

The Sirens completely disrupted Ottawa's attack. They squeezed the visitors along the boards, kept them away from any net-front presence and won puck battles while keeping the Charge's efforts away from the crease and slot. New York was also well positioned in the defensive zone to block shots, and they were able to transition to several odd-player rushes.

The Charge wanted this game as much as New York with fourth place (the last playoff spot) at stake. Only 11 games remain for each team, so the importance of defeating a team so close to them in the playoff hunt was not lost on Sirens' alternate captain Sarah Fillier.

"For us, after any goal and especially in that (3-2 situation early in the third period) you just try to have a great next shift...we just feed off that (next shift's) momentum and try to get back to our game as quickly as we can," said Fillier, whose pair of tallies snapped a career-high 14 games without a goal.

"We know Ottawa likes to score on the rush; that's a dangerous part of their game. We wanted to limit that, not let them get on pucks with speed and also play a heavy forechecking game."

Mission accomplished with an exclamation point. The Charge were held to just two other shots throughout the final 20 minutes. The Sirens were tenacious in all three zones and never let their collective foot off the gas.

In all, New York netminder Kayle Osborne was sharp albeit in a reduced workload thanks to her teammates in front of her. Other than the three shots in the third, she faced only seven and eight shots respectively over the first and second periods.

Osborne's eight wins -- in a league-leading 18 starts on the campaign -- ranks her fourth among all PWHL goaltenders in the category. New York’s six goals mark the most the team has scored in a game this season, and the most Ottawa has allowed in a game this season. One year ago this month (March 25, 2025), the Sirens also scored six goals in a 6-3 win against the Charge.

Regardless of the number of goals, Sirens' captain Micah Zandee-Hart loved the fact that the team stuck with the game plan first and foremost.

"The cool thing about (Sunday's) win is ... we were doing the right things and playing the way we want to play," she said. "...Yeah, the goals went in but also we were doing X, Y and Z the right way and that continues to build momentum as we go forward."

The Sirens scored two power play goals for the second time this season, while the Charge did not convert with the player advantage for the first time in four games.

Underneath Madison Square Garden -- where in less than four weeks the Sirens and Seattle will play in front of more than double Sunday's attendance at the Prudential Center -- quite the scene was witnessed in the New Jersey Transit waiting area.

Within the vast confines of New York Penn Station, commuters bound for Newark Penn Station consisted primarily of Sirens' faithful decked out in those familiar teal and orange jerseys.

It was a surreal scene not seen before Sunday, and as the train some 20 minutes later dropped passengers off for the short walk to The Rock, those numbers joined forces with so many others arriving by car and bus to create unbelievably long lines waiting to enter the arena an hour before game time.

At that point, an historic crowd was already assured. When the attendance was announced in the third period -- more than 1,000 more than the 7,000 projected -- the reaction elicited yet another roar but this time it came with chills and lots of emotions across social media.

"I'm looking at the (video screen) and I'm literally crying," said one fan on X while including a picture of the 'Today's Attendance 8 264' notice. "The Sirens deserve this and so much more."

OF NOTE: Taylor Girard, with her two goals on Sunday, has seven goals and an assist this season to surpass her previous career high of six points in 23 games during the inaugural PWHL season with Boston...Maddi Wheeler scored her first goal since Dec. 28, snapping a 10-game goal drought. The Sirens' rookie now has nine points (2G, 7A) and sits fourth among PWHL rookies in scoring...Allyson Simpson's first goal of the season snapped a 34-game goal drought dating back to last year...Elle Hartje snapped a career-high nine-game point drought with two assists. The multi-assist game was her second this season...Kristýna Kaltounková has received a minor penalty in a league-high five consecutive games...Maja Nylén Persson’s fifth assist upped her point total to six (1G, 5A) this season. That matches her point total from her first PWHL season (2024-25) and surpassed her previous career high of four assists, set in 23 games last season.