OTTAWA, ON – Taylor Girard had a natural hat trick and Kayle Osborne posted a 28-save shutout to lead the New York Sirens to a 4-0 victory over the Ottawa Charge on Saturday night in front of 7,371 fans at TD Place in Ottawa. In a fast-paced, physical game, it was Girard who broke the scoreless tie 7:49 into the third period before scoring her second tally just under five minutes later to give the road team a late 2-0 lead. 
The forward completed the hat trick — the first of her PWHL career — to give the Sirens a commanding 3-0 lead with just over three minutes remaining in the third. Rookie Maddi Wheeler had assists on each of Girard’s three tallies, while linemate Elle Hartje contributed two helpers. Defender Maja Nylén Persson scored a shorthanded, empty-net tally with four seconds remaining. In what was a battle of the sophomore goaltenders for much of the game, it was Osborne who posted her second career shutout while Ottawa’s Gwyneth Phillips made a regular-season career-high 38 saves in the loss.
QUOTES
New York goaltender Kayle Osborne on playing in her hometown: “[Playing at TD Place] feels great. I think it just felt better to have our first win with this group — we’re super young, and we’ve proven that we belong in this league. It makes it more special to play here today. I have a lot of support and family and friends here; we only play a few times a year in this building so it’s special to for them to get to see me.”
Sirens forward Taylor Girard on scoring a hat trick: “It is special to be a part of this group and Kayle obviously helped us out in a lot of areas. All of the goals that were scored — the credit goes to everybody else on the team who worked their butts off in every area of the ice. We scored because we set each other up every shift, shift after shift. We were hard on the puck, and it was great a great win.”
Ottawa forward Gabbie Hughes on the Fanuza Kadirova goal that was waived off because of a penalty on the play: “I was just so excited for Fanuza. She was so pumped and amped up. So, to see that excitement for her was fun. We saw her personality show a little bit more. It was frustrating to have it called off, but we’ll work things out as a team, and on the ice, and the goals will come.”
Charge Head Coach Carla MacLeod on adjustments that will be needed to create offense: “It’s game one. There is a lot that needs to be adjusted. In the grand scheme of things, there were a lot of good things that we saw. It’s just about tuning the fine details within that structure. I thought our defenders did a nice job with their gap for the most part of the night. We’ve just got to make sure that we keep learning.”
NOTABLES
New York has now opened all three PWHL seasons with a win on the road. Last season, they spoiled Minnesota’s home opener with a 4-3 overtime victory on Dec. 1, 2025, and won the first game in PWHL history in Toronto with a 4-0 shutout on Jan. 1, 2024.
Kayle Osborne recorded her second career shutout and third career win, with each of them coming in Ottawa. The Westport, ON, native earned her first shutout against the Charge with 31 saves on Jan. 27, 2025, in a 3-0 victory, then made 15 saves in a 6-3 win on Mar. 25, 2025 at TD Place. She becomes the second goaltender to record a shutout in a season opener following Corinne Schroeder who stopped all 29 shots in the league’s inaugural game. 
Taylor Girard is the first player in PWHL history to score three goals in a single period and records the league’s second natural hat trick following Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle on Jan. 6, 2024. Her three goals came on a career-high seven shots on goal and matches her offensive output from the entire 2024-25 season (1G, 2A) in 23 games.
Maddi Wheeler set a record for most points in a PWHL debut with her three assists tonight. The fourth-round pick is just the second Sirens players to record three assists in a game following Ella Shelton on Jan. 14, 2024.
Elle Hartje recorded her second career multi-assist performance, with the first coming in her fifth PWHL game last season on Dec. 22, 2024.
Maja Nylén Persson scored the season’s first shorthanded and empty net goal.
Gwyneth Philips’ previous career-high for regular season saves came in her season debut on Dec. 19 with 35 stops in a 5-2 loss in Minnesota.
Emily Clark led the Charge with five shots on goal after tying for the team lead during the 2024-25 campaign with 87 shots in 30 games.
Ottawa is now winless in three season opening games. Last season, they dropped a 4-3 shootout decision in Montréal on Nov. 30, 2024, and previously lost their inaugural game 3-2 in overtime at home against Montréal on Jan 2, 2024.
Five New York draft picks made their PWHL debuts tonight including Wheeler, first overall pick Kristýna Kaltounková, third overall pick Casey O’Brien, second-round pick Anne Cherkowski, and fifth-round pick Anna Bargman.
Two Sirens players made their team debuts tonight, including forward Kristin O’Neill, who led the team with 13 faceoff wins, and defender Jincy Roese who logged 25:07 in her return to Ottawa where she served as an alternate captain for two seasons.
Four Ottawa draft selections made their PWHL debuts tonight including first-round pick Rory Guilday, third-round pick Sarah Wozniewicz, fourth-round pick Peyton Hemp, and sixth-round pick Fanuza Kadirova.
Kadriova had a goal disallowed at 10:45 of the first period as Ottawa was assessed a minor penalty for too many players.
Brooke Hobson played in her first game as a member of the Charge, with the defender suiting up against her former New York teammates.
New York’s 42 shots on goal set a new team record and is the highest total so far this PWHL season.
THREE STARS
1. Taylor Girard (NY) 3G
2. Kayle Osborne (NY) 28/28 SV
3. Gwyneth Philips (OTT) 38/41 SV
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