Dominant penalty kills leads powerful Syracuse defense in conference play

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Syracuse hadn’t registered a shot before it drew its first penalty against Boston University in the “Battle at the Burgh” tournament. The Terriers’ Lacey Martin skated into the neutral zone with the puck, but as she slid a pass to defenseman Nadia Mattivi, SU forward Marielle McHale was called for tripping after poking her stick at Martin’s skates, knocking her down to the ice.

On BU’s power play, Julia Nearis held the puck in the left circle of SU’s zone while she looked for someone to pass to. But two Orange defensemen already created enough pressure to force Nearis to play the puck behind the boards and reset Boston’s attack.

Emma Wuthrich retrieved the puck sending a pass to Alex Allan, who sent it back to Nearis in the left circle. Nearis sent a cross-ice pass to an open Wuthrich in the right circle and sent a pass to her. The senior forward then slung a powerful shot on net at Syracuse goalie Arielle DeSmet, who easily swallowed the puck up.

This would be BU’s only shot of the power play, as SU (9-9-5, 7-3-0-1 College Hockey America) continued to pressure the Terriers. While Boston had three other power-play opportunities, the Orange stopped the Terriers from scoring for all eight penalty minutes. Forward Lauren Bellefontaine said it is one of the Orange’s strongest aspects of play for multiple seasons. In the 2020-21 season, SU led the CHA with a penalty kill percentage of .926, conceding six goals in 22 games.

Syracuse’s win over Boston was the 17th game this season where it did not allow a power-play goal. SU averages the lowest penalties per game in the CHA, with a mark of 3.3, but when Syracuse does go down a player, it has also been the most efficient at stopping power-play goals.

The Orange have only conceded a conference-best seven goals while short-handed, a penalty kill percentage of .892 — the highest in the CHA and 10th-highest in the country. This has created a significant impact for the Orange, especially as they fight for the CHA’s top spot.

Syracuse head coach Paul Flanagan said the penalty-killing duties on the coaching staff belong to associate head coach Brendon Knight. Flanagan finds Knight to be good at analyzing the opponent and their attack, specifically during power plays.

“He’s a very good tactician,” Flanagan said. “And he understands our opponent’s strengths and weaknesses … But it’s all inherent on the kids just working on blocking shots and deflecting.”

When she isn’t penalized, defenseman Jessica DiGirolamo is an important part of the penalty kill. DiGirolamo said that blocking shots on the penalty kill has been crucial so that the puck doesn’t go anywhere near the net. Fellow defenseman Terryn Mozes said that the penalty killers on the team — including DiGirolamo and Bellefontaine — are a key aspect toward their success.

“We have our penalty killers, and they’ve been doing it for a while,” Mozes said. “They’ve gotten really good at following what the coaches have planned for us. So that has an impact on us not getting a lot of goals against.”

For DiGirolamo, another important point of emphasis is making sure that she and her teammates were in passing lanes. Flanagan also said that it was important to correctly assess the passing lanes and blocking.

“There are some subtleties in the defensive zone,” Flanagan said. “But for the most part, regardless of how you tactically set up, it’s predicated on making good reads and goaltending.”

But on Dec. 4 against Mercyhurst, who boasts the highest-scoring offense in the CHA, those points of emphasis were greatly tested. While the Orange halted the Lakers’ first power play, both Bellefontaine and DiGirolamo were called for slashing and boarding penalties, respectively. This put Mercyhurst on the two-man advantage in the second period with the score tied at one goal apiece. But during the 5-on-3, SU had more shots than Mercyhurst did.

The importance of blocking the passing lanes became crucial on the penalty kill. Lakers forward Jordan Mortlock took the only shot on the two-man advantage, which went wide of the net. But pressure on a pass almost caused a short-handed goal for the Orange. Mercyhurst defender Mary Sweetapple stood at the blue line with the puck with the intention to quickly pass to a teammate. She sent a sliding pass down the left side of SU’s zone to Sarah Nelles, but as Nelles got the puck, Orange defenseman Mae Batherson aggressively pressured Nelles, forcing her to pass back to Sweetapple.

But on the pass back, forward Abby Moloughney was there to pick it off. Moloughney quickly got past Sweetapple to retrieve the puck and fly down the ice before firing a wrist shot that Mercyhurst goalie Ena Nystrøm saved with her glove.

“Abby was doing it while she was worn out there,” Flanagan said. “But I noticed neither team scored power-play goals this weekend, so special teams were pretty important.”

Blocking shots on the penalty kill has still been crucial for the Orange. Against RIT on Jan. 21, Syracuse efficiently killed all of the Tigers’ power plays through its blocked shots. With Syracuse killing a Sarah Marchand hooking penalty, RIT’s Mia Tsilemos skated at the blue line with the puck and teed up a slap shot.

But Bellefontaine stood in front and blocked the shot to prevent RIT from scoring on the man advantage. Batherson said that the Orange’s willingness to block shots is crucial and part of the effective penalty killing system they use.

“Our team sticks to our systems, and it works,” Batherson said. “We pressure hard, and we get pucks out …We know what to do, and we execute pretty well.”