On Nov. 8, 2014, Syracuse beat Mercyhurst for the first time in 31 tries.

Forward Melissa Piacentini scored the go-ahead goal on a power play and the Orange killed three penalties, including one down the stretch, to secure the 4-1 win. After the game, defender Nicole Renault said the penalty kill won the game for the team and that special teams were crucial.

SU (6-10-7, 4-2-3 College Hockey America) will look to repeat its strong special teams performance when it travels to No. 9 Mercyhurst (16-4-2, 7-3) for a pair of games Friday and Saturday, both at 3 p.m.

Syracuse head coach Paul Flanagan said the game would come down to goaltending and special teams. Meryhurst forward Emily Janiga and Piacentini are tied for third nationally in power-play goals with six while the Lakers are second in the nation in penalty kill percentage.

“When you get a power play, you have to execute and get pucks on net, make them retreat and really play with some confidence,” head coach Paul Flanagan said. “On the (penalty kill), … we’ve got to be determined, we’ve got to block shots and make goods reads and just make good decisions.”

During power plays, Flanagan said the key will be to outnumber Mercyhurst around the net. Since many goals are scored on rebounds, the Orange has to get players down low and find others cutting from the back.

He wants his players to try to isolate defenders or get them to fall down and then step around them into open spaces around the net.

Good play like that around the net will come with confidence and composure, he said, and that the Orange is heading in the right direction.

“I’m placed in a position that’s right in front of the net, so as long as there are shots through, I think my job is pretty simple,” Piacentini said of power-play scoring.

On the other side, Flanagan said goalie Jenn Gilligan has been the team’s best penalty killer and in order to beat Mercyhurst, she needs to be. In her last game against North Dakota, she recorded 44 blocks.

This week during practice, the team worked on penalty-killing basics, such as blocking shots, long passes and defensive zone play, Gilligan said. Anticipation is key, Flanagan said, so his team did everything to prepare leading up to Friday’s game.

“A lot of it is just going to be blocking shots and just making little plays, the subtle little plays that sometimes go unnoticed,” Flanagan said. “That’s where we have to be better and be ready.”

Gilligan said the team will take the good energy from last weekend’s games into this weekend, but the team won’t need any extra motivation against its biggest rival.

Though this is her first year at Syracuse, Gilligan understands the rivalry with Mercyhurst after just two meetings.

“When girls are sitting on the bench getting emotional after the game, that’s when I start to get emotional,” Giligan said. “… It’s a high-energy competition and it will be good.”

Staff writer Jon Mettus, jrmettus@syr.edu, contributed reporting to this article.

Published on January 15, 2015 at 12:14 am