Kinsler, Penalty Kill Spark 5-2 Win Over Lindenwood

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Paired with a career night from sophomore Jackson Kinsler and a perfect penalty kill, the Syracuse University women's ice hockey team surged past Lindenwood University 5-2 Friday night at Tennity Ice Pavilion.

Syracuse (9-20-0, 7-8-0 AHA) got a four-point performance from Kinsler, who racked two goals with two assists to lend a hand on four of the five goals. Sami Gendron and Stella Costabile enjoyed multi-point nights as well, the former with a goal and two assists while the latter notched a goal and an assist. Allie Kelley made 28 saves in the win, bookended the night with 10 saves in the first and another 10 in the third.

Lindenwood (3-22-2, 2-12-1 AHA) was paced by Gigi Pora, who netted a goal and an assist. Silje Gundersen potted the second Lindenwood goal as Morgan Neitzke and Molly Henderson recorded assists. The Lions split time in goal as Anna Larose made 22 saves in her 55 minutes of work before she was spelled by Madison Bowtell for the final five minutes. Bowtell made 4 saves.

How it Happened

Costabile got the scoring going early for the 'Cuse when she scored just over a minute into the game. Kinsler and Nea Tervonen provided the assists in giving the Orange their early edge.
The visiting Lions equalized the contest 12:44 into the second period on a goal from Pora who found the back of the net on an assist from Neitzke.
Tatum White reclaimed the edge for Syracuse four minutes later, receiving the puck from Gendon and Kinsler to send a slap shot past the Lindenwood keeper on the near side.
The much-involved Kinsler then doubled the 'Cuse lead with a goal of her own on a power play chance. Gendron and Charlie Kettyle provided assists on the score.
Gunderson put the Lions within one at the 2:51 mark of the second period when she scored on assists from Pora and Henderson.
The final period of play was tight for the first 16 minutes, with neither team converting scoring opportunities. With 4:26 to play, Gendron gave the Orange some breathing room with a late goal on assists from Costabile and Tervonen.
Kinsler provided her second goal of the win 34 seconds later to seal the team's 5-2 victory, sending a pass from Jocelyn Fiala to the back of the net on a breakaway. The chance was generated by Fiala, who laid out to block a Lindenwood shot before breaking the puck out off the wall

Head Coach Britni Smith
Overall fairly happy with our game; I thought we had a really slow start, as much as we were up 1-0 after the first. We really used the reset button between the first and the second period and I thought we did a really good job finding our game for the last 40 (minutes). Big night for us to put five (goals) in with our power play 2-for-5 and the penalty kill perfect tonight.

Our penalty kill was something we challenged the team with. If we could dominate that we felt pretty good about our game. We did some pre-scouting and I thought they did a really good job just buying into the simple plays we needed to eliminate some of their (Lindenwood) offense. I'm happy with that and then our power play made a couple of adjustments over the last few weeks when they hadn't seen much success and for them to start to see that is huge.

Behind the Numbers

The two teams were tight in shooting, with 'Cuse edging the Lions, 31-30, in shots, but Kelley's 28 saves kept the Lions to just two goals.
Syracuse held a 37-32 advantage at the faceoff circles, aided by a 17-of-34 night from White while Rylee McLeod made the most with eight wins on 12 chances.
'Cuse had a perfect night on the penalty kill, keeping the Lions off the board on two chances while limiting Lindenwood to just three power play shots.
Conversely, Syracuse scored twice on five chances while generating five shots on the advantage.
The five goals are the most the Orange have scored this season and the most since depositing seven in a tie at Lindenwood on Feb. 2, 2024.

Up Next for Syracuse

The Orange wrap up the home slate for the regular season at Tennity Ice Pavilion on Saturday with another AHA showdown with Lindenwood.
Game time is set for 1 p.m. on FloHockey.
Following Saturday's game, the team will honor its five graduate students as their collegiate careers conclude this season: Klára Jandušíková, Bryn Saarela, Charli Kettyle, Allie Kelley and Tatum White