The Crimson’s penalty kill has been on the upswing since before McCulloch returned. Currently in the middle of the ECAC at 80.5 percent, the last three games have seen dramatic improvement. Junior goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris said the penalty kill did an “excellent job” in Monday’s lost to Boston College.

“We’ve tweaked the penalty kill somewhat…allowing players [to have] a greater responsibility for an area,” Grumet-Morris said.

In its last three games—all against nationally ranked teams (BC, Brown, Colgate)—Harvard has killed off 18 of 20 power plays. The Crimson will need to continue that in order to have success tonight at The Whale, a building that—despite Harvard’s recent success—has been unkind to Crimson teams in the past. Harvard is 4-16-6 at Yale since the 1977-78 season, including 2-6-1 in its last nine trips.

The Bulldogs’ home-ice advantage has been especially strong this season. They have a 6-2-0 record at Ingalls, and tonight is sure to be a sellout.

“The Yale Whale is great to play in every week,” Steeves said, “but there’s something special about it for the Harvard game.”

—Staff writer Jon Paul Morosi can be reached at morosi@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Timothy M. McDonald can be reached at tmcdonal@fas.harvard.edu.