When Syracuse goalie Jenn Gilligan looked up at the scoreboard with 3:29 left in overtime, all she could think was, “Please, no more odd-man rushes.”

Syracuse had dominated the entire first period, controlling all areas of the ice and jumping out to an early four-goal lead.

But Lindenwood started sending one of its forwards to sit near the blue line, while the Lions were on defense.  As soon as Lindenwood got the puck, a player sent a long pass up the ice for a rush.

One-on-zeros, two-on-ones and three-on-twos mounted. Gilligan made save after save until she eventually cracked.

“There are goalies in the NHL, but if they see odd-man rushes on them all night they’re going to get goals scored on them,” Gilligan said.

Though Syracuse put together a nearly flawless first period, the Orange (8-13-10, 6-5-6 College Hockey America) failed to adjust defensively in the second and third periods and blew a four-goal lead to ultimately tie Lindenwood (9-17-2, 6-9-2), 4-4, at Tennity Ice Pavilion on Friday.

“They outcoached us,” SU head coach Paul Flanagan said. “They did a good job. That’s a great adjustment stretching that person in the neutral zone. Our kids just kind of let them flounder out there and they got a lot of passes.”

Through the first period, the Lions couldn’t make it past the Orange in the neutral zone. Syracuse held the offensive zone and tallied four goals.

The first two came off the stick of forward Melissa Piacentini for her 41st and 42nd goals of her career, which tied and broke the program record, respectively.

“You can tell, in hockey, between playing to win and playing to get points and I think our mentality switched after the first, that it was just point night,” SU forward Allie LaCombe said.

Dejected, the Lindenwood players walked to the locker room and one attempted to energize her team, yelling, “Let’s go black,” and slamming her stick.

In the opening minutes of the second, SU defender Akane Hosoyamada lost the puck and Gilligan had to save a shot in her chest on a two-on-one. Seconds later, SU forward Jessica Sibley lost it and Gilligan stood tall on a one-on-zero chance.

Eleven minutes in, Lindenwood’s strategic move finally paid off and forward Shara Jasper scored on a give-and-go with forward Jordyn Constance. Two minutes later, Constance fed Lindenwood defender Carrie Atkinson. Gilligan made the initial save, but the puck bounced off her body, over her shoulder and into the net.

“That shouldn’t have caught us off guard, but apparently it did, because after that we kind of broke down,” Hosoyamada said about Lindenwood sending a forward down the ice while it was on defense.

Players on Lindenwood’s bench leapt and threw their hands in the air. Backup goalie Sarah McGall nearly charged onto the ice in excitement.

At the next stoppage of play, Gilligan skated out of the crease and slammed her stick into the boards.

“They’re not done now,” a man yelled from the stands.

He was right.

Lindenwood had one more goal in it and tied the game midway through the third period. Constance assisted on her fourth goal of the night, this time to Lindenwood’s Britannia Gillanders.

SU players leaned against the boards with their heads in their hands.

When the buzzer sounded to end regulation, SU defender Nicole Renault skated toward center ice and shook her head before smacking the knob of her stick on the boards.

“We’ve been here before,” Flanagan said of the team’s 10th tie of the season. “They know the things they need to do — the things you need to guard against — but here we are again. Maybe it’s a capsule of our season, I guess.”

Published on February 14, 2015 at 12:25 am

Contact Jon: jrmettus@syr.edu | @jmettus