The New York Sirens will miss the playoffs for the third straight season.
New York was eliminated following a 1-0 shutout win over the Toronto Sceptres on the road on Tuesday.
The Sirens outplayed Toronto from start to finish outshooting the Sceptres 33-21 including several point blank opportunities, but it wasn't enough to get them the three points in regulation that New York needed to stay in the playoff hunt. Ally Simpson lifted the Sirens to the overtime win, and Kayle Osborne picked up the shutout, but the Sirens lost what was most important, a shot at the postseason.
If it weren't for a post-Olympic stretch that saw the New York Sirens return from the break with five losses in six games, New York is a playoff team.
It's a rather large "if," but New York missing the playoffs this season isn't the condemnation on their team some might purport.
New York has followed a more traditional building pathway for their roster signing players to longer contracts, focusing on the draft, and giving opportunities to youth. It's paid off at times, and at other times, it hasn't. If not for expansion, and the fact that New York started several steps behind the rest of the PWHL due to league-level issues, the Sirens would likely be in a very different position today.
Still, there are reasons they're outside the playoff picture again.
The injury to Kristyna Kaltounkova that kept her out down the stretch was certainly a factor. It removed the team's leading goal scorer when they needed her most. The same could be said for the injury to Taylor Girard, which meant New York was without their two top goal scorers. The loss of Makenna Webster after the draft was another hit, one that's hard to measure, but with New York's need to acquire multiple forwards in the second half, the loss of one of their top picks before she ever stepped on the ice hurt.
Perhaps New York's biggest downfall this season was their inability to keep pucks out of their net. No team struggled defensively more than the Sirens aside from the last place Seattle Torrent. Prior to the Olympic break, Kayle Osborne, who won silver as Canada's third goalie in Milan, looked like one of the top netminders in the league. Aside from her most recent shutout however, Osborne was pedestrian following the Olympics. Her post-Olympic save percentage of .882 dropped Osborne to 12th among PWHL netminders with at least 240 minutes played this season, and worst among starting goaltenders in the PWHL.
Following Kaltounkova's injury, the bright spot for the New York Sirens was the emergence of Casey O'Brien. O'Brien climbed into the top 10 in PWHL scoring, and leads all PWHL rookies in scoring.
New York's forward group, including O'Brien, Kaltounkova, Sarah Fillier, and Anne Cherkowski looked at times like they could develop into one of the most potent groups in the league.
Of course, the Sirens won't have that opportunity, as they'll lose more pieces to the puzzle they've been collecting in the next round of expansion.
The good news for Sirens fans however, is that the team has another star incoming as by missing the playoffs, they'll have the chance to select either Caroline Harvey, Abbey Murphy, Laila Edwards, or Tessa Janecke.
Overall, the Sirens were a much improved team on and off the ice this season, and for the first time, they had a locker room pulling in the same direction, as a team. While the playoffs didn't materialize, it was an improved team, and effort all around in New York.