In the dying minutes of a game against then-No. 5 Colgate, with goalie Abbey Miller on the bench, Syracuse searched for a game-tying goal.

Despite the extra skater, the Orange seemed reluctant to shoot the puck. Pass after pass, cycle after cycle, passed up potential chances. A Syracuse fan yelled, “You can’t score if you don’t shoot!”

An equalizer never came and Syracuse lost yet another close game, 3-2.

The Orange has yet to score more than two goals in a game and has been shutout twice. A lack of scoring and a weak power play have haunted Syracuse (0-4-2) through the early part of its season. SU hopes to kick start the offense as it opens conference play against Lindenwood (0-4) on Friday at Tennity Ice Pavilion at 4 p.m.

“I think we’re kind of overthinking (the power play),” head coach Paul Flanagan said. “It’s that old adage, I had a coach once tell me, ‘There you go thinking again,’ you know? Sometimes when you think too much you overplay things and so I think we just need to relax back there and get the puck moving.”

Syracuse’s power play is 3-for-29 through six games, clocking in at a measly 10.3 percent. Through SU’s first four games, its only three goals came from being a player up. It took until the sixth game of the season for Syracuse to score an even-strength goal.

The Orange’s power play also has conceded a short-handed goal, meaning the unit has gotten SU only two net goals this season. The struggles of the power play stand in stark contrast with the Orange’s other special teams unit, the penalty kill, which has killed 86 percent of opponent penalties through six games.

Syracuse has narrowed its offensive and power-play deficiencies down to a few key issues: puck movement, getting shots to the net and creating traffic in front of opposing goaltenders.

“I’m not sure if we’re trying to find a perfect pass or a perfect play and maybe being too cute sometimes instead of trying to crash the net and get the dirty goals or whatever,” junior forward Alysha Burriss said. “But if we can just get people into the areas that people don’t really want to go into, it’s pretty rough out there, and if we can just get bodies out front and get the puck there we’ll be fine.”

Despite being close to equal with its opponents in shots, 140-151, the rate at which SU turns those shots into goals is hurting the offense. Syracuse’s offense is scoring on 5 percent of its shots.

Syracuse’s opponents counter that with an 8.6 percent shooting percentage.

“Calm down,” Heather Schwarz said of what the team needs to improve on offense. “Not necessarily slow down, but just calm down and just move (the puck), we’d be perfect. I think really just making the right decisions with what type of shots. Either keeping it low or going high with it and just trying to either create rebounds or go in and shoot top shelf.”

Amid the early offensive struggles, the team is pressing a little too much and not playing loose, Flanagan said. Syracuse has also run into some elite-level goaltending and defense. Colgate goalie Julia Vandyk entered the Raiders weekend series with the Orange with a 1.01 goals-against average.

Flanagan isn’t dwelling on the team’s struggles, even with conference play looming, and employed his standard dry humor to convey his message.

“I don’t dwell on our power-play percentage because that can kill you,” Flanagan said, “It’ll keep you awake at night. But at the same time it’s very critical.

“We have to get better and we have to manufacture more power play goals. I am encouraged we’re getting chances.”

Published on October 26, 2016 at 9:22 pm

Contact Andrew: aegraham@syr.edu | @A_E_Graham