“Bernakevitch gave me a really nice pass in front,” Cavanagh said modestly of his second goal of the night, “and I had an empty net.”

But even after one back-breaking penalty and three quick Harvard scores, the Tigers continued to push and brought the score to 5-3 with a top-shelf power-play goal.

And though the Crimson would go up 8-3 with a quick trio of goals in the third period, Princeton responded in the game’s final 10 minutes.

The Tigers managed two power-play goals and scored once more when Sklapsky was pulled for an extra man. That brought Princeton within two at 8-6, but Harvard held on for the messy win.

Each team managed four power-play goals—an offensive achievement and a defensive breakdown on both sides. The Crimson penalty kill, which Donato had considered “very much a strong suit in the first few games,” staved off just three of seven situations.

Still, after the previous weekend’s abysmal road losses to Cornell and Colgate, this series proved a welcome respite.

“We only scored one goal last weekend, and we scored eight tonight,” Cavanagh said on Saturday. “That’s an improvement, definitely.”

HARVARD 3, YALE 1

Every time his team took a shot and missed—which happened 30 times in the first two periods—Harvard netminder Grumet-Morris paced in his crease and threw his hands up in frustration. His team was performing exactly as it had wanted to, and the effort was entirely unrewarded.

For two periods Crimson had pounded the puck forward, limited the Bulldogs to only 13 shots and drawn just three whistles.

But with only the final frame remaining in regulation, the scoreboard still flashed matching zeroes. For that, Yale coach Tim Taylor ’63 cited the stellar play of Bulldogs goaltender Josh Gartner, “the star of the night” according to Taylor.

And in the blink of an eye, just 6:26 into the third period, Yale notched a power-play goal.

With Gartner’s fine reflexes—and eventual 44 saves—the Bulldogs had turned Harvard’s hustle into a 1-0 Crimson deficit.

“I don’t think the score, after [Yale] put it in, reflected the way the game went,” said senior forward Andrew Lederman, “but their goalie did play very well, and we showed up when it counted.”