The PWHL shattered another attendance record Saturday night, as 18,006 fans packed Madison Square Garden to witness the New York Sirens' 2-1 shootout win over the Seattle Torrent.
The sold-out crowd set a new US attendance benchmark for women's hockey, surpassing the previous high of 17,335 set at Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena on February 27th. The milestone represents the fourth time the PWHL has broken the US record this season — and the eighth time since the league's 2024 debut.
"People ask if I'm surprised," said Torrent and Team USA captain Hilary Knight. "I'm not surprised that we sold out MSG. It's a testament to the caliber of play that we have, our fanbase, the product that we put together, and the work that we do when the lights aren't bright."
Sarah Fillier tied the game for New York with 3:45 remaining in regulation before scoring in the shootout. Defender Maja Nylén Persson netted the shootout winner while goaltender Kayle Osborne stopped 20 shots and four of five shootout attempts for her ninth win of the season.
Alex Carpenter scored Seattle's lone goal on a power play in the second period. The Torrent outshot New York 38-21 but fell short in the end.
The attendance figure ranks as the second-highest of the 2025/26 season and seventh-highest in PWHL history. New York completed a professional hockey sweep at Madison Square Garden after the NHL's Rangers defeated Detroit 4-1 earlier that day.
The victory keeps New York's playoff hopes alive as the Sirens trail fifth-place Ottawa by two points with five games remaining in the push for the final PWHL Walter Cup Playoffs spot.
Boston anticipates its own sellout at TD Garden next week, as the Fleet host Montreal in what should rank second in US attendance for the league.
Team USA hero Hilary Knight is back on the ice, returning to the PWHL for the first time since January after the Seattle Torrent removed the Olympic gold medalist from the team's long-term injured reserve list on Sunday.
Along with her second career gold and fifth overall Olympic medal, Knight also picked up a torn MCL in Milan last month, powering through the tournament before returning Stateside to rehab her knee.
The 36-year-old team captain returned to Seattle's top line in the Torrent's 2-0 Sunday loss to the Ottawa Charge, registering four shots on goal in just under 22 minutes of play.
Knight, who became Team USA's all-time Olympic goals and points leader in Milan, enters the final stretch of the 2025/26 PWHL season with three goals and seven assists on the Torrent's stat sheet.
While Seattle will be happy to have its captain back, the last-place PWHL expansion team is likely more focused on the draft than the playoffs, with the Torrent a full 11 points below the postseason line after racking up just 22 points through 23 games played.
How to watch Hilary Knight and the Seattle Torrent in PWHL action
Seattle's debut season has already made history, and Knight and her Torrent will make even more this weekend when they face off against the New York Sirens in the PWHL's first-ever game in Manhattan's legendary Madison Square Garden (MSG).
With Seattle holding a 2-1 record against New York, the MSG crowd will look to lift the Sirens to a win to even the series.
The Torrent will take on the Sirens in the iconic arena's first-ever ticketed pro women's hockey event at 8 PM ET on Saturday, with live coverage streaming on YouTube.
The Seattle Torrent defeated the New York Sirens 4-1 on Wednesday night, with the hockey teams taking the ice at Allstate Arena as the PWHL surpassed the 2 million all-time attendance mark.
10,006 fans attended the game in Chicago, pushing the league's total attendance to 2,001,975 through 275 games since its January 2024 launch. As with many such attendance milestones, the feat was achieved during the 13th of this year's 16-game PWHL Takeover Tour.
Seattle dominated the first period with three goals. Theresa Schafzahl opened scoring with a wraparound at 10:33, before Danielle Serdachny made it 2-0 at 14:25, and Cayla Barnes scored on the power play at 19:34. The three first-period goals marked the most the 2025/26 PWHL expansion team has ever scored in a single period.
The Torrent snapped a four-game losing streak behind strong performances from their top line. Alex Carpenter, Schafzahl, and Serdachny combined for eight points, while goalie Corinne Schroeder stopped 29 shots in her first appearance against her former team.
Sarah Fillier cut New York's deficit to 3-1 nearly six minutes into the third period, before Carpenter restored the three-goal lead at 9:48 to seal the victory.
The win marks Seattle's second away victory this season.
New York has now lost five straight road games, sitting three points behind fifth-place Ottawa in the PWHL playoff race. Seattle now moves within two points of seventh-place Vancouver.
The fan-favorite hockey teams take the ice again this weekend, when the Sirens face Montréal in Detroit on Saturday while the Torrent host a Sunday showdown with Ottawa.
PWHL fans can now own a piece of history from Team USA captain Hilary Knight, as the PWHL partnered with The Realest on an authenticated memorabilia collection.
The result is described as the first fully-authenticated collection of game-used and player-sourced PWHL jerseys, equipment, and other artifacts. However, Knight's game-used Boston Fleet stick and her game-worn jersey headline the drop.
Regarded as one of history's greatest players, Knight is competing in her fifth Olympic Games as Team USA captain. The 36-year-old finished last season tied for PWHL points leader with 29, becoming a Forward of the Year and Billie Jean King MVP Award finalist. She joined Seattle as the franchise's inaugural captain ahead of the 2025/26 season.
"As we enter our third season of unprecedented growth and record-shattering fan support, it was important to preserve our league's history," PWHL VP of merchandising Kate Boyce said.
The collection features memorabilia from all six original franchises plus this year's two expansion teams. Beyond Knight, fans can subsequently browse Montréal captain Marie-Philip Poulin's 2025 PWHL Playoffs jersey and Minnesota defender Natalie Buchbinder's helmet.
"We set out to make women's sports memorabilia a true category, not an afterthought," said The Realest CEO Scott Keeney.
How to buy PWHL memorabilia featuring Team USA captain Hilary Knight
The PWHL collection is now open for bidding via The Realest at therealest.com/pwhl.
PWHL players made their voices heard this week, as The Athletic published the results of the third-year league's first-ever anonymous player poll on Wednesday, surveying athletes on everything from the best trash-talkers to which nation's team will win Olympic gold at next month's 2026 Winter Games.
Leading the poll's individual accolades is 34-year-old Team Canada and Montréal Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin, dubbed the PWHL's best player by 80% of respondents.
Poulin's Team USA counterpart, Seattle Torrent forward Hilary Knight, snagged second as each standout prepares for a fifth career Olympic run.
As for who will win gold in Italy, all but one player predicted a Canada vs. USA Olympic Final, with a 50/50 split on the eventual victor.
Athletes also answered overarching questions about the growing league in the player poll, with Detroit earning the most nods as a PWHL expansion city — though Denver and Chicago also scored double-digit votes.
As for the future face of the league, current New York Sirens forward and 2024 PWHL No. 1 draftee Sarah Fillier narrowly edged out current University of Wisconsin senior and Team USA Olympic defender Caroline Harvey in the players' poll.
Toronto Sceptres forward Emma Maltais beat out Montréal's Abby Roque by one vote for the title of top PWHL trash-talker, though most players tapped her for quantity over quality — an assessment Maltais herself agrees with.
"I'm not trash-talking," clarified the 26-year-old Canadian. "I'm just yapping."
New York Sirens forward Taylor Girard made PWHL history this week, earning a record four-game suspension for leaving the bench to join a line skirmish at the end of Sunday's 2-1 win over the Montréal Victoire.
The brawl occurred at the the final buzzer of the PWHL's record-breaking Takeover Tour stop in Washington, DC, with eight players — four Sirens and four from the Victoire — subsequently issued 10-minute misconducts in addition to Girard's infraction.
As the sole player not originally on the ice to join the skirmish, Girard was the only player to receive an additional 20-minute charge.
Even more, Girard's actions immediately triggered a four-game suspension, as the PWHL Rulebook dictates that exact punishment for "the first player to leave the players' bench illegally during an altercation or for the purpose of starting an altercation from either or both Teams."
The four-game ban marks the longest punishment in PWHL history, doubling the two-game suspension that Seattle Torrent defender Aneta Tejralová received for an illegal check to the head last month.
With the PWHL on break after January 28th as 30% of the league's rosters compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics, the four-game suspension means that Girard — who sits second on New York's scoring sheet with five goals on the season — will not be available for the No. 2 Sirens until March 5th.
The PWHL is continuing to break records, as Sunday's 2025/26 Takeover Tour stop in Washington, DC, saw 17,228 fans pack into Capital One Arena to see the No. 2 New York Sirens top the No. 4 Montréal Victoire 2-1 — setting a new US women's hockey attendance record in the process.
The benchmark surpasses the previous US record set this past November, when the Seattle Torrent welcomed 16,014 fans to their inaugural home opener.
Sunday's DC crowd also sees the US mark inch closer to the overall professional women's hockey attendance record, set in April 2024 when 21,105 PWHL fans sold out Montréal's Bell Centre to watch the Victoire take on the Toronto Sceptres.
"Washington, DC, showed up in such a big way, and the energy our fans brought into the arena turned this game into something truly special," PWHL EVP of business operations Amy Scheer said of the first-ever PWHL game in the nation's capital. "Moments like this capture the joy of our sport and the momentum behind the league."
The third-year league is currently racing through its best-attended month on record, drawing more than 154,000 fans across the last 16 games while averaging crowds of 8,726 across all 49 games so far this season.
The PWHL is coming to the Garden, as the No. 2 New York Sirens announced on Thursday that they'll host the No. 6 Seattle Torrent at Manhattan's legendary Madison Square Garden (MSG) on April 4th.
While MSG staged a fan-less PWHPA game in February 2021, this year's PWHL takeover marks the iconic arena's first-ever ticketed pro women's hockey event.
"Madison Square Garden has a storied women's sports history," said Sirens GM Pascal Daoust in the team's announcement. "New York doesn't just watch moments; it lives with them. This is one of those nights meant to be experienced together, in the building, as part of the history of our team, our league, and everyone who helps bring it to life."
The April showdown will serve as the pair's final regular-season clash, with the 2025/26 series currently tied at 1-1.
Seattle took the first meeting 2-1 behind goals from captain Hilary Knight and Alex Carpenter on December 3rd, before New York stole the second game 4-3 as NYC local Casey O'Brien's hat trick lit up the league's Takeover Tour stop in Dallas on December 28th.
The Torrent and Sirens will next face off in Chicago on March 25th before closing out their four-game slate by making history at MSG at 8 PM ET on April 4th.
How to attend the PWHL clash at Madison Square Garden
While New York season ticket-holders can currently access tickets to the MSG clash, the presale for Sirens newsletter subscribers will begin on Monday before general sales opens at 10 AM ET on Tuesday via Ticketmaster.
The No. 3 Minnesota Frost are looking to skate up the PWHL table, as the reigning back-to-back champs hope to make up ground before the third-year league breaks for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Eight games into the 2025/26 season, the Boston Fleet top the PWHL standings with 19 points, trailed by the No. 2 Toronto Sceptres with 14, while the No. 4 Montréal Victoire sit one point behind the Frost with 11.
"Our league is good. Every game is going to be close," Minnesota head coach Ken Klee said last week. "It's just about getting better and keep accumulating points."
With the league's original six teams largely off to a hot start, there's only a few weeks left before players hang up their PWHL jerseys for February's Winter Games.
Teams outside the current playoff chase are also making a statement, as New York Sirens forward Casey O'Brien scored her first pro goals to power the sixth-place squad past the No. 5 Seattle Torrent 4-3 on Sunday — becoming the first rookie to record a hat trick in PWHL history in the process.
"We've been putting in a lot of work in practice and video, focusing on the little things," O'Brien said postgame. "Tonight felt like the payoff."
How to watch this week's PWHL action
The puck drops on the final 2025 PWHL matches on Tuesday, when the No. 3 Minnesota Frost visit the No. 2 Toronto Sceptres at 7 PM ET, airing live on Prime.
Closing out the year on Wednesday, the No. 6 New York Sirens will host the No. 7 Vancouver Goldeneyes at 1 PM ET, with live coverage airing on MSG Network.
The PWHL is rapidly looking to ramp up expansion, with EVP of business operations Amy Scheer saying this week that the third-year pro hockey league could welcome "two to four" new teams as soon as next year.
"If I was a betting woman, I'd say it'd be four teams. And then I think we'll hold at 12 for a bit," she told CNBC Sport, noting the league's immediate success with 2025/26 expansion sides the Vancouver Goldeneyes and the Seattle Torrent — the latter of which shattered the US women's hockey attendance record in their Friday home opener.
Accordingly, the PWHL will continue testing possible new markets using the league's historically packed Takeover Tour, with this season's 11-city route expanding to feature seven new host venues.
"What does the support of women's sports look like there?" Scheer said, outlining the league's criteria for assessing potential markets. "If there's an NHL team, what does that look like? Or from the building, is there government support there? How does it impact travel? So there's a lot of factors."
As for the league's notably speedy expansion pace, Scheer told Front Office Sports that the PWHL has "proven that time is overrated."
"The more our numbers grow, the more value we have as a league, the more value we have against our partnerships we sell, the more merchandise we sell," Scheer explained. "Those two things — growth and profitability — are not separate."