The New York Sirens have lost nine of their last ten, and six of seven since returning from the Olympic break. Once a playoff team, the Sirens have fallen out of that picture and will need a winning run if they hope to crack the postseason for the first time.
The New York Sirens dropped their ninth game out of their last ten, and have lost six of seven since returning from the Olympic break.
After struggling recently to start on time, the Sirens scored first in their most recent loss, a 3-1 decision to the Montreal Victoire in Detroit, but failed to tally again.
the team has hit a road block on their season, and after sitting in a playoff spot for much of the first half of the season, the Sirens look like they’re headed for another season missing the postseason.
“Today was a different story than what the last few games have been for us. We got a great start, you know, I thought our first period was as good of a period as we played, and, some of the parts of our game that we like, just how we were managing the puck,” said New York head coach Greg Fargo after their loss to Montreal. “I think as the game went on, we started to step away from that a little bit for one reason or another, and, you know, momentum was a funny thing, you get a little bit, and I think Montreal started to gain a little bit more as that as that second closed off, and they carried it into the third in a good way. So we've gotta find a way to match and exceed that effort moving forward.”
While the New York Sirens remain only four points out of the final playoff spot, they have two teams ahead of them in the Ottawa Charge and Toronto Sceptres. Ottawa and Toronto face each other three more times, which means one of both of them will be collecting guaranteed points to continue moving ahead of the Sirens.
The Sirens themselves face Toronto twice, and Ottawa once in what will be must-win games for all involved.
From a strong start to a difficult last month, the Sirens still have hopes to turn things around, but it will require finding a way to play a full 60 minutes each night.
"Right now, when you're not winning games, I think the important thing for us is to stay, connected to our game on a more consistent basis," said Fargo. "Whether it's the last few, or we haven't liked our starts, or even tonight, where we got away from our game, playing a complete game with great habits and great structure and great energy, that's what it takes to win at this level."
"You can see like the margins between winning and losing in the PWHL are really small. I think when we have a tough play or something that ends up in the back of your net, we've got to find a way to respond in those moments a little bit better, because bad things are gonna happen. We know that."
In their most recent game against the Montreal Victoire, the turning point appeared to be a lacklustre response by the Sirens following a disallowed goal that would have put them ahead 2-0, and instead left them defending a 1-0 lead that eventually evaporated in the third.
With seven regular season games remaining, the New York Sirens are looking for some good things to happen. They'll need to string together a winning record to close out the season if they have any hopes of making the Walter Cup playoffs for the first time in franchise history.