New York Eliminated from Playoff Contention Despite Overtime Win in Toronto
PWHL New York Sirens

New York Eliminated from Playoff Contention Despite Overtime Win in Toronto

Published on April 22, 2026 under Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL)
New York Sirens News Release


TORONTO - Allyson Simpson scored the game's only goal to lead the New York Sirens to a 1-0 overtime win against the Toronto Sceptres in front of a sold-out crowd of 8,685 at Coca-Cola Coliseum Tuesday night. The victory was bittersweet for the Sirens, who needed a regulation win to keep their playoff hopes alive, even pulling the goaltender for an extra attacker with the game tied in the final 80 seconds to push for the win. The single point for the Sceptres leaves their playoff hopes out of their immediate control, needing any result but an Ottawa regulation win over Boston Wednesday to stay in the race. Simpson's winner came 2:42 in the extra frame, slipping the puck five hole off a feed from Casey O'Brien, who grabbed Sarah Fillier's deflected shot. Both goaltenders did all they could between the pipes, with Kayle Osborne stopping all 21 attempts in the win and Raygan Kirk turning away 32 of 33 with the loss.

All eight PWHL teams will finish the regular season in the second four-game slate of 2025-26 on Saturday. New York will travel to Boston for a 12 p.m. ET puck drop in their lone opportunity to collect draft order points in competition for the first overall pick in the 2026 PWHL Draft. Toronto will travel to Ottawa to face their Ontario rivals at 2 p.m. ET in what could be a one-game showdown for the fourth and final playoff berth or an opportunity to collect draft order points.

QUOTES

Sirens Head Coach Greg Fargo on his thought process surrounding the team needing a win in regulation and determining the right time to pull the goalie: "We knew going into this situation that if we were tied, we'd likely have to pull the goalie and try and get the extra attacker. I would have loved to have gotten her out a little sooner, but we had a tough time a couple of shifts there coming up with possession in the offensive zone, and it took us a little bit to get her out of the net. Ultimately, I thought we did a great job once we got her out. We had six out there and we had a couple of good bids but just couldn't find it."

New York Captain Micah Zandee-Hart on what her thoughts are now that the team hasn't made the playoffs in all three seasons: "It's obviously disappointing and it's not where we want to be. Greg said in the locker room, we don't want Saturday to be our last game. With that being said, I think we can look at our organization being out of the playoffs three years in a row, but this season specifically, we were a brand-new team. We had a lot of new players, a lot of injuries. We had new players coming in the mix and trying to figure that out. So, I guess when I look at it, yes, for me personally, it's disappointing as a captain to not help the team get into the playoffs for the first time, for sure. But I'm really proud of this specific team and what we were able to build towards at the end of the season. I felt like we were playing our best hockey at the end of the season, and I'm sure a lot of teams say in this situation, maybe if we had five more games, who knows what would happen."

Sceptres goaltender Raygan Kirk on handling the uncertainty of the playoff race: "We'll definitely be glued to the TV tomorrow-it's a bit out of our control. We did that to ourselves today, unfortunately, but hopefully it works in our favour, and then we just have to focus on Saturday. We've been fighting since the international break, so it's just going to be another battle Saturday if things work out well for us tomorrow."

Toronto Head Coach Troy Ryan on Kirk's play: "She's been great. Couldn't happen to a better person, just a great character person, a great teammate. I thought tonight, a lot of times she plays a very controlled game, and I thought tonight she battled so hard. They were throwing some pucks at her and I thought she battled hard. She once again gave us a chance to win. The disappointing part for me is not finding a way to set us up for success. When someone like Kirk plays the way she does, and some of our key players and leaders are playing through injuries, so you kind of expect a little bit more from someone else to find a way to get it done, but ultimately, it's me, honestly. Tonight I would say their [New York's] coach convinced them the right way to play, better than I did."

NOTABLES

New York wins the season series 8-4 in points, outscoring Toronto 9-6 in four games. The Sceptres hold the all-time advantage 27-18 in points over the Sirens.

The Sirens earned just their third win in an opposing PWHL market this season and first since their 2-0 shutout over the Sceptres at Coca-Cola Coliseum on Jan. 6. Including Takeover Tour games, the last New York win away from home was Jan. 18 in Washington D.C., snapping a streak of eight straight losses.

New York earned its fourth shutout of the season, good for the third-most among PWHL teams behind Montréal's eight and Boston's seven. Toronto has had a shutout result in six of their last nine games, either shutting out its opponent or being shut out.

Toronto is winless at home in four consecutive games, including three shutouts. They closed out their 2025-26 home schedule with a 2-1-4-6 record in 13 true home games (excluding Takeover Tour), the worst mark in the league. Two of their 12 home points were recorded at Scotiabank Arena, earning only two wins and 10 points at Coca-Cola Coliseum. Last season, the Sceptres won eight of 13 games for 25 points at their primary home venue.

The last and only other time a PWHL game went to extra time scoreless was in New York's 1-0 overtime win over Toronto on Jan. 12, 2025, at Prudential Center.

Seven PWHL games have remained scoreless through 40 minutes of play this season, with Toronto involved in three such games. Before tonight's overtime loss, the Sceptres were previously deadlocked through two periods in a 2-0 win over Boston on Mar. 17 and a 2-0 loss to Ottawa on Apr. 11.

Kayle Osborne earned her second shutout against Toronto and fourth of the season, the most behind Ann-Renée Desbiens and Aerin Frankel's seven, and her 11 wins this season rank fourth. She has appeared in a league-high 27 games and has allowed one or fewer goals in eight contests during 2025-26, finishing the four-game series against Toronto with a .952 save percentage.

Allyson Simpson recorded her first career game winner with her third goal of the season, ending an eight-game pointless drought. The second-year defender last scored on Mar. 15 with her first multi-point performance (1G, 1A) in New York's 4-3 loss to Minnesota. She has tied her 2024-25 output of five points to reach the double-digit mark for her career.

Casey O'Brien is the seventh player to reach 15 assists in the PWHL this season and just the second rookie to do so. She improved her points mark to 22, good for the lead among rookies, and led all skaters with 12 faceoff wins tonight. The third overall draft pick finished with one goal and four assists in four games against Toronto to lead all skaters in the season series.

Sarah Fillier, from nearby Georgetown, ON, extended her point streak to three straight games with her 14th assist and 23rd point in 28 games. The Sirens alternate captain became the 15th player in PWHL history to reach 30 career assists. She led all skaters on the ice with seven shots on goal, matching her second highest total this season, and has now surpassed 100 shots on goal in each of her first two PWHL seasons.

Raygan Kirk recorded her eighth game of the season with at least 30 saves, second behind Ottawa's Gwyneth Philips with 10. She has allowed one or fewer goals against in six of her last seven games, previously allowing three to New York last Wednesday. Her shutout streak of 125:12 came to a close in her fifth loss since the league returned from the Olympic break, and her 13th in 22 appearances in 2025-26. The second-year Sceptre holds a goals-against-average of 1.85 and save percentage of .935 that rank third among league netminders.

Daryl Watts and Renata Fast shared the Sceptres lead for shots on goal tonight with four apiece.

Emma Maltais led the Sceptres in the faceoff circle going 9-for-13 and has surpassed 400 faceoffs (403) for the first time in her career. She is one of only eight PWHL skaters to exceed 400 faceoffs this season along with teammate Blayre Turnbull (458), though the Sceptres captain has not taken a draw in each of her last two games.

THREE STARS

1. Allyson Simpson (NY) OT GWG

2. Raygan Kirk (TOR) 32/33 SV

3. Savannah Harmon (TOR)

STANDINGS

Toronto: 38 PTS (10-1-6-12) - 5th Place

New York: 36 PTS (9-3-3-14) - 6th Place

UPCOMING SCHEDULES

New York: Saturday, Apr. 25 at Boston at 12 p.m. ET

Toronto: Saturday, Apr. 25 at Ottawa at 2 p.m. ET

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Professional Women's Hockey League Stories from April 22, 2026


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