Following a three-goal victory over conference leaders Mercyhurst on Jan. 26 that brought Syracuse within three points of first place in College Hockey America, Paul Flanagan was ecstatic with the play of his team. Stopping the Lakers from scoring a goal on six power play opportunities, the Orange defense once again displayed its dominance in conference.

The win capped of a three-game stretch in which Syracuse allowed just four goals. In the two subsequent games following the upset victory, Syracuse (9-16-2, 8-5-1 CHA) reverted back to its old defensive woes, allowing eight goals in the last two games.

Syracuse has allowed two goals per game in conference play compared to 3.36 against non-conference foes. While the Orange, for the most part, has held teams in check during CHA play — the exception being the most recent game against Mercyhurst — it has struggled to stop attackers out of conference. If the Orange is to make a run in the CHA down the final stretch of the regular season and in the conference tournament, it will hinge on the play of its defense.

“The goals in the past few games have come off rushes, so we just want to be more proactive with our defensemen,” head coach Paul Flanagan said. “We cannot back up or sag into our zones.”

On Oct. 21, in a matchup against then-No. 9 Northeastern, Syracuse struggled against a quality opponent. Late in the second period, Huskies’ junior forward Denisa Krizova picked up the puck in front of the blue line after a blocked shot. She slapped the puck into the top left corner, past junior goaltender Maddi Welch, who couldn’t find the puck among the crowd in front of the net.

The Northeastern goal was a trend — letting top-tier opponents run away in games — for Syracuse throughout non-conference play, as it has not stopped non-CHA teams from scoring.

SU, after starting the season winless in its first five games, has rebounded in conference play, largely in part due to the defense’s success. An obvious difference for SU out of conference is the tougher competition, freshman defender Jessica DiGirolamo said. Syracuse played five of the top six teams in the nation, along with Providence who received votes in last week’s USCHO.com poll.

After allowing four goals in back-to-back games to Mercyhurst and then-No. 2 Clarkson, there has been a clear emphasis on fixing the issues so evident in the past games in practice. The team has focused on using the forecheck to prevent odd-man rushes, sophomore defender Lindsay Eastwood said.

“We’ve been working a lot on breakouts,” DiGirolamo said. “We’ve been doing a lot of odd-man rushes, and we are also doing three on twos and two on ones to get everybody moving. ”

Down four points with six games to play, SU’s defense will need to play like it did in its win against Mercyhurst, not its most recent shellacking.

Published on February 6, 2018 at 10:25 pm

Contact Adam: adhillma@syr.edu | @_adamhillman