Road-Warrior Ottawa Charge Win Again As Visitors

For the second time in nine days, the road-warrior Ottawa Charge turned a sterling all-around performance into a 3-2 victory over the New York Sirens at the Prudential Center on Tuesday night.

The manner in which the hosts were defeated looked similar to their last meeting with Ottawa one week ago Sunday. Ottawa's speed combined with precise passing, solid forechecking and pouncing on loose pucks all spelled trouble for New York in front of the smallest crowd of the season (1,569) at The Rock.

Even more decisive to the outcome was the Sirens' inability once again to take advantage of four Charge penalties. On Dec. 29, in a 3-1 loss to Ottawa, New York also went 0-for-4 on the power play.

It haunted them once again in this setback, which marked the end of Alex Carpenter's 10-game point streak dating back to the inaugural season. Carpenter was on a season-long seven-game point tear -- the most in league history -- before being shut down on Tuesday.

And just like in that previous encounter with New York, Charge netminder Emerance Maschmeyer came up big -- albeit a less of a workload than the first time against the Sirens -- between the posts with 21 saves on 23 New York shots.

“She helps us out a ton in the games we’re not in as much," said Ottawa forward Danielle Serdachny of Maschmeyer. "We always know we can trust her back there. It’s been pretty unbelievable this year to see how much she has grown in the process as a goalie and as a leader in our locker room. She’s a big voice in our room. Lots of girls look up to her. To see her do her thing every single game and keeping us in them has been incredible.”

Maschmeyer, who had surrendered only one goal in her team's last two games against New York and Toronto, made several key stops over the last 90 seconds when the Sirens rushed her net after pulling goalie Kayle Osborne for the extra attacker.

Osborne, who was making her first start after previously coming in for Abigail Levy on Dec. 22 against Minnesota, overcame two goals given up in the first period and one more in the second period to keep the game within reach despite a 37-shot onslaught by the visitors.

In the end, however, the Charge left New Jersey with another regulation win -- its third in a row -- to move into sole possession of third place with 13 points. Ottawa, which was playing its fifth consecutive road game, has now secured nine points since a 5-2 setback in Minnesota.

The outlook in the early going of Tuesday's contest appeared positive for the Sirens, who entered with 12 points and had an opportunity to move into first place with an outright win.

At the 4:35 mark of the first period, Ella Shelton's first goal of the season gave New York a very short-lived 1-0 advantage.

Shelton, who had an assist in last Saturday's 5-0 victory at Minnesota, recorded her second point in as many games since coming back from long-term injury. She finished a nice pass across the low slot from Noora Tulus with a riser past Maschmeyer. Allyson Simpson also contributed with her third helper.

Although they gave up that initial goal, the Charge kept battling and maintaining the momentum. The visitors were rewarded just 1:19 after Shelton's goal when Danielle Serdachny tied it up with her second goal this season following a perfectly placed feed across the crease from Victoria Bach.

Then, at just over the midway point, Shiann Darkangelo took advantage of a beneficial bounce off the back wall -- with Osborne out of position -- for an easy unassisted conversion to put the Charge up 2-1. It was Darkangelo's third goal of the campaign.

Throughout the game, Ottawa used its quickness and determination to make several odd-player rushes that led to some near misses against Osborne, and that workhouse mentality resulted in what turned out to be the insurance goal at 9:07 of the second period.

Emily Clark, who had a goal and assist when these two clubs last faced each other, made amends for a breakaway miss on a penalty kill several minutes earlier with a pinpoint shot through a narrow opening past Osborne's shoulder to make it 3-1. Brianne Jenner and Zoe Boyd assisted on that effort.

Maja Nylen Persson's first goal of her PWHL career six minutes into the third period accounted for the final outcome. New York captain Micah Zandee-Hart and Chloe Aurard had the assists. For Zandee-Hart, it was her sixth helper this season.