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In its season opener against Colgate, Syracuse had a 2-1 lead late in the third period when penalties by Brynn Koocher and Victoria Klimek left the team down two skaters. Just over 30 seconds into the 5-on-3 power play, Colgate scored the equalizer, sending the game into a 3-on-3 overtime period.

Another Raiders power-play goal 19 seconds into overtime closed out the Orange’s season-opener with a 3-2 loss. Head coach Paul Flanagan later blamed the loss on lack of experience and fatigue from his relatively young team, with 13 of its 21 players being freshmen and sophomores.

Syracuse’s (2-4-1, 2-2-1 College Hockey America) inability to close out games is the team’s biggest struggle so far this season, Flanagan said. Three of the Orange’s four losses have included a blown lead, two of which were multi-goal leads. Though second-and third-period goals fueled Syracuse’s most recent win over Penn State, late penalties and a lack of shots proved problematic in the other three losses.

“We’ve struggled in matching offensive production in the second, third period.” Flanagan said. “Not only in shots on net, but our goals for and against are not good in the second, third period.”

The Orange have routinely generated momentum early in games. But despite each game being a close contest, Syracuse has come up short, unable to match its opponents’ late offensive production.

“We’ve got to have a good balance between how we’re approaching all three periods,” Flanagan said. “And for whatever reason, psychologically, we’re gung-ho early, and then for some reason, we’re relaxing.”

So far in 2020, Syracuse scored 11 of its 20 goals in the first period. In a season where all but one of the Orange’s games have been against Penn State — ranked first in the CHA — and No. 5 Colgate, the Orange have struggled, at times, to break down the strong defenses. They’ve been hurt by low shot totals. Syracuse has failed to post more than eight shots in the second or third period in all but one of its losses.

Syracuse managed just seven combined shots after a 15-shot first period in its 2-1 loss to Penn State on Dec. 5. The Orange resorted to haphazardly sending pucks into the offensive zone, with the Nittany Lions controlling all parts of the ice. In the final minute of the second period, the Orange had four skaters in Penn State’s zone desperately seeking the tie-breaker. But, it was Penn State who capitalized on a 2-on-1 counter-attack and scored the eventual game-winner.

As shots on goal decrease later in the game, Syracuse’s penalty minutes rise — 26 of the team’s 32 penalties this season came after the first period. The team’s penalty kill unit has only allowed two power-play goals this season, but the time defending shorthanded contributes to the Orange’s late-game fatigue.

It’s the type of fatigue that has caused Syracuse to lose twice in overtime and lets opponents mount late-game comebacks. Against Penn State, Syracuse’s fatigue fueled three unanswered Nittany Lion goals, including the 4-3 overtime winner.

“(Penn State) just stayed extremely consistent in all of those areas throughout the game, whereas we kind of let that go,” Klimek said.

Klimek notched all three of Syracuse’s goals in the two road games in State College, Pennsylvania. But even the CHA’s Player of the Week fell victim to the team-wide fatigue. By the overtime period of the Dec 6. game, Syracuse spent almost the entire five minutes in its own zone chasing the puck.

Just over 90 seconds into her shift, Klimek made an untimely line change as Penn State had possession of the puck in Syracuse’s zone, leading to a 3-on-2 scenario and a wide-open shot in front of Allison Small. The goaltender bailed the shorthanded Orange out with three saves in a matter of seconds. But Syracuse was unable to recover, and the game ended in a tie.

The Orange dropped the next game 4-3 but came back to win their final game against Penn State. After three blown leads in three games, Syracuse finally played a complete game, notching 20 shots in the second period and 15 in the third. The Orange came to life offensively, overcoming a deficit to defeat the Nittany Lions 4-2.

The key: two third-period goals from Klimek and Emma Polaski. Flanagan said postgame that producing that many key chances put Penn State on its heels, allowing Syracuse to maintain its momentum.

“The thing to do is to not start the third period up by two goals. That’s the secret,” Flanagan said jokingly following the win.

Published on December 18, 2020 at 5:00 am

Contact Alex: ahcirino@syr.edu