“He’s playing very, very well,” Mazzoleni said of Maki. “He’s a big kid who can move….When you look at his development over the year, he might not have a lot of points, but he’s getting scoring opportunities.”

Another freshman had a career “first” on Saturday. Defenseman Dylan Reese had an assist on fellow freshman Kevin Du’s second-period goal for career point No. 1.

Steve Mandes scored his second career goal Friday, meaning every player in the four-member class recorded a point during the weekend.

Du, who leads the team’s freshmen with eight points, is the only member of his class to play all 29 games this season.

BLUE LINE GROUP

Harvard’s defensemen often pinched in the offensive zone this weekend, putting 10 shots on goal Friday and five more Saturday. They finished the weekend with eight points combined.

That offensive presence from the blue line was a big reason the Crimson scored eight goals over the two games, tying a season-high for goals in a weekend series set at Dartmouth and Vermont in early November.

Mazzoleni has long stressed to his defensemen the importance of getting involved offensively. The reason for that, ironically enough, is the defensive style of play seen throughout the ECAC.

“The way teams are coached today, it’s hard to create a numerical advantage, whether it’s a two-on-one, three-on-two, or four-on-three,” Mazzoleni said. “The only way you can create that advantage is to creep your weakside D up.”

Mazzoleni took note of captain Kenny Smith’s play against Vermont. Smith tied a career-high with three assists, two of which came when his perimeter shots were followed up by a forward in front.

“Offensively, Kenny Smith had an outstanding night,” Mazzoleni said. “That was one of the better games he’s had here.”

Smith is playing arguably his best hockey of the year. He had a minus-9 rating as recently as the Beanpot consolation game, but is plus-8 over his last five, including plus-3 in both games this weekend.

Smith seems to have returned to the strong two-way play that characterized his junior season, when his plus-23 rating was the third highest on the team, behind Noah Welch (plus-30) and Tim Pettit (plus-25).

TURNABOUT

What was Harvard’s Achilles heel on Friday night against Vermont—the team’s propensity to take penalties and its inability to stop the opposing team’s power play—was the prime reason that the Crimson skated off the Bright ice on Saturday with a 4-0 victory.