I recall a couple matches so far this year where a guy is down by 1 or tied with choice going into the third, but the other guy has around 45-50 seconds of riding time. If it was the second period and before the other guy was able to get that RT, maybe he chooses down, but now he chooses neutral. Of course the 3 point TD also impacts this decision.
On a related note, I feel like more guys don’t defer in the second than I would expect. I pretty much always deferred unless it was 0-0.