Montreal Victoire (5-2-0-4 19pts) v. New York Sirens (6-0-1-5 19pts)
Game Recap
At Capital One Arena in Washington DC, the Montreal Victoire and the New York Sirens battle for sole possession of third place in the PWHL during the ninth stop of the PWHL Takeover Tour and the first PWHL in DC history.
Additional Reading: The PWHL is Coming to DC
This marks the third meeting between these two teams as the Victoire took the first game 4-0 on November 25th, 2025 in Montreal, but on January 2nd, 2026, the Sirens would take the second game at home with a score of 4-3.
Additional Reading: Building Anticipation for the PWHL in DC
Going into today’s game, the Sirens recently had their 4 game winning streak ended with a 3-2 overtime loss to the defending Walter Cup champion Minnesota Frost on Friday, January 16th. Meanwhile, for the Victoire, they are currently on a three game winning streak after recently defeating the Ottawa Charge 2-1 on Tuesday, January 13th.
Montréal has won both of its Takeover Tour games so far this season with a shootout win in Halifax over Toronto and a 1-0 victory over Vancouver in Québec City. Last season, the Victoire won two of their four Takeover Tour games, with the wins coming in Canada (Vancouver and Québec City) and the losses coming in the United States (Seattle and Denver).
In its first Takeover Tour game of the season, the Sirens scored a 4-3 win over Seattle in Dallas. New York has scored four goals in each of its last two Takeover Tour games, also doing so last March in a 4-1 victory over Minnesota in Detroit.
Going into the first period, the Victoire would take a bench minor 42 seconds into the game with a too many players on the ice penalty, and the Sirens would use this as an opportunity to take the early lead as Kristýna Kaltounková would crash the net and get the puck past Ann-Renée Desbiens to give the Sirens the 1-0 lead. However, after the powerplay goal, the Sirens would do a march to the penalty box as they would take three straight penalties to allow the Victoire to dictate the game more. While Kayle Osborne would make some real quality saves, finally on their third powerplay opportunity Maggie Flaherty would score with 30.6 seconds left in the period to tie the game at one for the Victoire.
For the Victoire, not the best start, but they were able to draw multiple penalties to gain the momentum to score late to tie the game. For the Sirens, they need to stay out of the penalty box and generate chances on Desbiens.
For the second period, the Sirens would pick up the pace as they would outshoot the Victoire 10-7 in the period, and despite not able to capitalize on their lone powerplay of the period, the Sirens would score with a Anne Cherkowski would score her first career PWHL goal to take the 2-1 lead. However, the Sirens are paying the price to get those opportunities as the Victoire really picked up the physicality, especially in the latter half of the period. Jade Downie-Landry placed about 3-4 really solid body checks to defend Desbiens to help keep the Victoire down only by one.
Going into the third period, the Sirens need to withstand the Victoire’s physical game and continue to generate scoring chances. Osborne has been playing solid in goal and has continued to keep the Victoire at bay.
For the Victoire, they need to try to draw a penalty by continuing to grind the Sirens down with their physicality and trying to get the Sirens frustrated like in the first period. If the Victoire can swing the momentum back their way, then they can really make things tough for the Sirens.
Then in the third period, The Victoire would find themselves heading to the penalty box one too many times to their liking, and it would end costing them the momentum, but to Montreal’s favor, Desbiens would stop all 11 shots faced to keep the Sirens to two goals. However, Osborne would stop all 12 Victoire shots, including one that went to video review to see if the puck did go in the net when she snagged it along the goal line, to backstop the Sirens to a 2-1 victory. Though, before everything would be said and done, we would see things get fired up as 60 penalty minutes be doled out to end the game between these two teams.
Overall, this was a fantastic game from both teams, and one that the Washington DC crowd was hot for. The Capital One Arena crowd set the US attendance record with 17,228 for a Women’s Hockey game. We had a low scoring, tightly contested affair that showed great goaltending, and physicality to boot. The return of the PWHL to Washington DC will be greatly welcomed back when the time comes.
Lineups
Montreal Victoire
New York Sirens
First Period
MON Penalty – 0:42 – Bench (Skylar Irving) 2 minutes for Too Many Players
NYS PPG – 1:24 – Kristýna Kaltounková (8) from Sarah Fillier (5) and Maja Nylen Persson (2)
NYS Penalty – 7:30 – Allyson Simpson – 2 minutes for Hooking
NYS Penalty – Maddie Wheeler – 13:06 – 2 minutes for Tripping
NYS Penalty – 19:20 – Peyton Levis – 2 minutes for Roughing
MON PPG – 19:29 – Maggie Flaherty (2) from Kati Tabin (4) and Hayley Scamurra (3)
| End of First | MON – 1 | NYS – 1 |
| Shots | 13 | 6 |
| Faceoff Wins | 11/19 | 8/19 |
| Hits | 4 | 6 |
| Powerplay | 1/3 | 1/1 |
Second Period
MON Penalty – 8:12 – Kati Tabin – 2 minutes for Delay if Game
NYS Goal – 14:47 – Anne Cherkowski (1) from Paetyn Levis (3) and Sarah Fillier (6)
| End of Second | MON – 1 | NYS – 2 |
| Shots | 20 | 16 |
| Faceoff Wins | 16/34 | 18/34 |
| Hits | 15 | 11 |
| Powerplay | 1/3 | 1/2 |
Third Period
MON Penalty – :59 – Marie-Philip Poulin – 2 minutes for Boarding
MON Penalty – 7:51 – Skylar Irving – 2 minutes for Illegal Body Checking
NYS Penalty – 11:30 – Kristin O’Neill – 2 minutes for Holding
MON Penalty – 17:44 – Abby Roque – 2 minutes for Tripping
MON Penalty – 20:00 – Maggie Flaherty – 10 minute Misconduct
MON Penalty – 20:00 – Marie-Philip Poulin – 10 minute Misconduct
MON Penalty – 20:00 – Abby Roque – 10 minute Misconduct
MON Penalty – 20:00 – Hayley Scamurra – 10 minute Misconduct
NYS Penalty – 20:00 – Taylor Girard – 10 minute Misconduct
NYS Penalty – 20:00 – Taylor Girard – Game Misconduct for Leaving the Bench
NYS Penalty – 20:00 – Kristýna Kaltounková – 10 minute Misconduct
NYS Penalty – 20:00 – Maja Nylen Persson – 10 minute Misconduct
NYS Penalty – 20:00 – Micah Zandee-Hart – 10 minute Misconduct
| End of Third | MON – 1 | NYS – 2 |
| Shots | 32 | 27 |
| Faceoff Wins | 26/58 | 32/58 |
| Hits | 20 | 17 |
| Powerplay | 1/4 | 1/5 |
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