With 15 games played and 15 games to go, what Yogi Berra used to say seems appropo: “It gets late early out there.”
The Sirens played their 15th game of the season on Wednesday night after taking a week off for a PWHL break, and fifteen games should be enough to have a good idea of what they are.
Yes, the Sirens developed an identity of forechecking and playing fast, but that only goes so far. This team doesn’t have much scoring outside of Alex Carpenter and Sarah Fillier. After watching the home team five times this season, including a 4-0 loss to the Boston Fleet on Wednesday night at Prudential Center, it’s fair to reach that conclusion.
We can talk about the team being a victim of bad breaks all we want, but reality also doesn’t lie: If Fillier and Carpenter are not scoring, the Sirens don’t have a chance. Ella Shelton and Jessie Eldridge have four goals apiece. Other than that, there’s not much on that roster you can trust to score. It’s not an accident the Sirens scored only three goals during their season-high three-game losing streak.
Carpenter did not play again, as she is still out with an upper-body injury she suffered against the Fleet a few weeks ago. There’s no word when she will come back. If she doesn’t come back soon, the Sirens will be in trouble to the point they will have a hard time making the playoffs because she is their offense.
You can see where they miss Carpenter already. She makes everyone better. She is a player who can score a greasy goal or shoot from a long distance. She knows how to get rebounds and finish off scoring chances. And it’s no coincidence that Fillier has been in a rut since Carpenter has been on the injury list. It could also be that the Sirens rookie may have hit the wall, which you expect from a rookie. It explains why her season-high point streak of six games ended on Wednesday night.
The Sirens could have used Carpenter to get a big goal against the Fleet. They peppered shot after shot at Fleet goaltender Aerin Frankel and got nothing out of it. In the end, Frankel received her first shutout of the season.
Sirens goaltender Corinne Schroeder did all she could to give her team a chance to tie or win in the third period. But the Sirens’ lack of offense didn’t get it done. In the end, the Fleet scored three goals in the third period, and that was that.
Here’s the reality: This second-year franchise is still building. The Sirens must continue to draft well and find unheralded players who need a chance to shine.
First-year Sirens head coach Greg Fargo mentioned growth and positive things that should be taken from this loss. You expect him to accentuate the positive publicly. But he also has to know this is what he has to work with. He is realistic enough to know the score when his team is out there. The fans will figure it out sooner or later if they haven’t already.
After starting well, the Sirens are trending downward. They are now fifth in the league standings, which means they would miss the playoffs if the season ended today. The lack of scoring depth is why they are in this position. It’s telling when Fargo is mixing up lines to get the right scoring combination, and that’s never a great thing.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Sirens. They play the league-leading Montreal Victoire on Saturday afternoon at Montreal, and they follow it up by playing the Fleet twice over the next 11 days. They could be in a bind they may not recover from if someone doesn’t step up.
That was the reality the Sirens found out after another loss. They will also know they are not good enough if they don’t figure it out soon. That’s the reality the Sirens don’t want to deal with, but they may have no choice.
With 15 games played and 15 games to go, what Yogi Berra used to say seems appropo: “It gets late early out there.”
