About a month ago, January 15 to be specific, the Sirens earned a 3-2 victory against the defending Walter Cup champion, Minnesota Frost, in an epic shootout that ended in seven rounds. We wondered how good the Sirens could be. Now, we wonder about something entirely different.
January 15 likely turned out to be “This is as good as it’s going to get.” Not even Alex Carpenter’s return from the injured list (upper-back injury) saved the Sirens on Wednesday night after a 4-1 loss to the Toronto Sceptres at Prudential Center. A six-game losing streak (five in regulation) may have ended their chances of making the playoffs in their second year with 12 games remaining.
Sure, anything is possible, but let’s be realistic. After 18 games, the Sirens are mediocre at best. It’s hard to take them seriously as a playoff team when they don’t have more than one line to score. They only have two playmakers in Sarah Fillier and Carpenter, and that’s it.
On Wednesday night’s telecast, a graphic mentioned that Frost’s third line scored two of the team’s four goals in Minnesota’s 4-0 victory over the Victoire on Tuesday night. I doubt a third line even exists with the Sirens. You get the point. It’s hard to get secondary scoring where no other scorers can step up. Jessie Eldridge is the best the Sirens have, and that’s it.
This team is spinning its skates right now. They can’t score. In the last five games, the Sirens have scored only five goals, with 2-for-19 to show for it in the power play. Their goal differential is minus-8.
With the game scoreless heading to the second period, it was a matter of when, not if, the Sceptres scored. They finally did in the second period on Hannah Miller’s goal. You just knew the Sirens had no shot to return with how their offense has gone. Sure, Carpenter’s goal cut the Sirens’ deficit to 3-1, but it was too little too late by then.
Here’s another problem with the Sirens: They have quality players but don’t have stars that can elevate them as the Fleet has with Hilary Knight. Maybe Fillier can be that player one day, but she needs more seasoning in the pros and a linemate she can feed off to get there.
The Sirens do the little things well. They defend. They win faceoffs. They provide the boom. That can only take them so far. They won’t win games if they can’t score, as we see right now.
It’s a lazy take to say Carpenter’s injury set the team back. She can’t compensate for the team’s lack of secondary scoring or defense that can’t score. She can’t make up for the lack of speed this team has. Odds are this team would have struggled even with her.
The Sirens’ roster reeks more of an expansion team than a ready-to-win team. Sirens coach Greg Fargo has no answers, but he can only make do with the roster he has to work with.
It doesn’t seem like it’s getting better anytime soon, especially when the Sirens have to play the Fleet on Sunday in the PWHL Takeover Tour in Buffalo and again on March 5. They haven’t beaten Boston this year.
The final 12 games seem like a death march for a team with high expectations, such as making the playoffs this season. The Sirens hope they can win before they can even think of getting back in the playoff race.
It’s easy to start thinking about the offseason with the PWHL Draft and free agency. It’s the only way the team will improve, and it won’t come from within now. The reality is that they are closer to getting the No. 1 pick than making a postseason appearance.
The Sirens need a quality scorer to play with Fillier and Carpenter to be competitive next season.
