NEW HAVEN, Conn.—Of all the reasons for Harvard’s improbable 7-5 win over Yale on Friday night, the tactical, X’s and O’s explanation was this: as the game went on, the Crimson defensemen took on an increasing role in the team’s attack.

Harvard backliners either scored or had the primary assist on five scoring plays—the direct result of a critical adjustment by head coach Mark Mazzoleni to adopt a 2-3 forecheck, in which defensemen pinched when they saw loose pucks along the wall. More often than not, the Crimson won the one-on-one battles and put shots on net.

“We talked the whole night about getting our D up the ice,” Harvard senior captain Kenny Smith said. “They have such fast forwards that we knew we needed to get up there and have tight gaps. That also gave us a second wave for the forwards, so we could generate some offense for the guys.”

Harvard scored two third-period goals—30 seconds apart from one another—on plays that began when a defender put a shot on net from just inside the blue line. At 12:36, senior winger Tyler Kolarik knocked in the rebound of Tom Walsh’s wrister from the left point, and at 13:06, Tim Pettit redirected Smith’s shot from the blue line past goaltender Josh Gartner.

That turned a 5-3 deficit into a 5-5 tie, before junior Noah Welch—another defenseman—crashed the net to flip in the game-winner 31 seconds later.

“We talk about how important it is to get the defensemen into the game and create some offense,” Kolarik said. “That’s something I felt that, on our run two years ago, we did very well. You can see what kind of difficulty that causes for a team. When you get your third man high, you’re able to pinch the defensemen and be aggressive.

“I thought we executed our systems very well for 40 minutes. Now, the key is to do that for 60.”

Déjà Vu?

Two years ago, Harvard struggled to stay above .500 and went 2-8-1 during its final 11 games of the regular season, before winning four straight ECAC tournament games—three in overtime—and the league title.

The Crimson has already endured a 3-8-1 stretch this season, and some players think they may be on the verge of a similar turnaround, especially after Friday night’s comeback evoked memories of the “Cardiac Crimson” moniker the team earned during its ECAC championship season.

“We’ve had instances like this before,” Smith said. “Two years ago, we tied [St. Lawrence] when we came back with three goals in the third period. We know this is the type of game that can push a team over the hump. Hopefully this will be it for us.”

“But we have to stay focused,” he added. “We can’t rest on the laurels of this win.”

Junior goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris also said the team’s play in the second and third periods on Friday was “reminiscent of last year’s team and two years ago during our playoff run.”

Happy Returns

Friday marked the return of Harvard freshman defenseman Dylan Reese, who missed 15 straight games with a pinched nerve in his back that restricted the movement of one of his feet.