After outshooting Northeastern by six and earning a power play in the first 11-and-a-half minutes, Syracuse gave up two goals in 41 seconds.

Those two goals opened the way for three more by the No. 9 Huskies, as the Orange fell 5-1, on Friday night. Though the final 5-1 score suggests a dominant offensive performance by Northeastern, it was the Syracuse’s failure to communicate which led to the defense’s struggles. Despite being outshot by seven, the Huskies scored jumped out to an early five-goal run, three of which came on power play goals, exploiting Syracuse’s defense that seemed largely out of sync.

“It just looked like the people without the puck were just watching the person with the puck,” SU head coach Paul Flanagan said. “And we just weren’t communicating.”

The team was quick to address this issue after the game in preparation for the series finale on Saturday. Flanagan stressed audible communication and said he would like to see more reacting to plays occurring on the ice instead of what the team refers to ask, “puck watching.”

The Orange began the game aggressively on both ends, peppering the Northeastern defense with a multitude of shots on goal. It was not until the 11:34 mark of the first period that led to a change in play when Syracuse allowed two goals in 41 seconds.

“We looked out of sync, we had players running into each other” Flanagan said, “We need to be more consistent on the ice.”

The lone scorer for the Orange, Victoria Klimek, says the Orange needs to focus on learning the system and communicating better to avoid looking out of sync and eliminating any miscommunications.

“Communicating with each other is big,” said Klimke, “and knowing where we’re supposed to be at all times.”

The Orange showed flashes of defensive excellence in the second period. Counter attacks were put to rest and the defense helped push the tempo up the ice. But miscommunications and the early two goals flipped a switch for Northeastern, as it took over the game.

The team said working on finding one another in the right spots and communicating more consistently on the ice could lead to a change.

“We need to have a short-term memory, and we’ve got to learn from it. There is a lot of things to correct,” Flanagan said.

Published on October 20, 2017 at 10:59 pm

Contact Anthony: amkhelil@syr.edu