Penalty kill lets down Syracuse in 5-1 loss to No. 9 Northeastern
Phil Bryant | Contributing Photographer
Less than 22 seconds into the third period, sophomore Kelli Rowswell slowly trudged over to the penalty box. Already trailing by three goals, her third penalty in the span of eight minutes was a back breaker for SU, snuffing out any chance of a comeback.
Syracuse’s (1-6-1) inability to clear the puck out of the defensive zone while a player down — allowing three power-play goals — was the ultimate decider in its 5-1 loss to No. 9 Northeastern (4-3-1, 2-0-0 Hockey East) Saturday at Tennity Ice Pavilion. With two scores occurring late in the second period, the lack of discipline in the second half of the game saw a 2-1 first period deficit turn into a four-goal defeat. While Northeastern committed seven penalties to the Orange’s six, SU’s inability to clear the puck and block shots allowed the Huskies to control the puck and fire clear shots on net.
“It ended up being the difference,” said SU head coach Paul Flanagan about the Huskies’ success on the power play. “They were effective on the power play and we were ineffective.”
For the second-straight game, the Orange allowed three goals on five Northeastern power-play opportunities. For freshman Victoria Klimek, the lone SU goal scorer, there was a clear lack of understanding in key moments.
“We need to be able to execute on the penalty kill,” Klimek said. “We need to go hard when we’re supposed to go hard but also roll back when we need to roll back.”
With five minutes remaining in the second period, Syracuse was down a player due to a Rowswell penalty. Northeastern junior forward Denisa Krizova picked up the puck in front of the blue line and with two players sprawled out in front of junior goaltender Maddi Welch after a blocked shot, the SU goalie appeared confused. With no clear sightline to the puck, she never noticed the high slap shot into the top left corner.
With SU trailing by a goal, its inability to stop the puck on the penalty kill allowed the game to spiral out of control.
“We skated well with them,” senior defender Megan Quinn said. “There was a lack of discipline on our end in terms of penalties and just not executing while we had a player down.”
SU’s penalty kill consistently struggled, standing in stark contrast with the Huskies solid four-for-five effort on the kill. Rowswell, who tallied six penalty minutes between the second and third period, failed to keep up with the opposing forwards, leading to penalties and lapses of judgement.
“A lot of our penalties were stick ones,” Rowswell said, “so I have to keep my feet moving.”
By game’s end, the Orange’s head man knew SU wasn’t going to win with a showing like it had on special teams.
“Today just didn’t go our way,” Flanagan said. “Most of it was special teams.”
Published on October 21, 2017 at 6:01 pm
Contact Adam: adhillma@syr.edu | @_adamhillman