"We forecheck so hard that they can't set up in our zone," Breistroff said.
"That kept Brown from concentrating on the puck too much," Hyland said.
Martins also played a huge offensive role on the penalty kill, setting up five quality scoring opportunities while playing with a man down.
"We pushed the puck by them," Martins said. "Unfortunately, I couldn't quite get the puck to [junior Tommy Holmes] to capitalize."
When Sproule's penalty expired, the Crimson was still faced with a five-on-four situation. But thanks to more solid defensive play and deft goaltending by junior Tripp Tracy, Harvard withstood the two minute assault.
"He's a big game goalie," Tomassoni said.
Just ten seconds later, Harvard lit the lamp on a beautiful pass from junior Brad Konik to senior Cory Gustafson.
That sequence was the story of the game: strong penalty killing, and a quick offense that took advantage of Brown's lapses and its own man-advantage opportunities.
"Everything is coming together," Martins said.