PROVIDENCE, R.I.—The last time Tom Cavanagh found the back of the net, Howard Dean was still a serious presidential candidate, Louie’s Superette dispensed alcohol to minors with impunity and getting poked by strangers wasn’t nearly so innocuous.

Needless to say, it had been awhile.

After rattling off 12 goals in Harvard’s first 16 games, Cavanagh lit the lamp just once over the next 16, with six- and nine-game goalless streaks bookending his most recent tally on Feb. 9 in the Beanpot consolation against Northeastern.

“He’s been a little snake-bitten goal-wise recently,” said assistant captain Tyler Kolarik.

But skaters with a knack for gathering the puck on the doorstep rarely stay that way for long, let alone 660:44, as Cavanagh had.

And after senior Tim Pettit’s apparent overtime winner was ruled no goal, Cavanagh ensured that both the series and his personal bout with ignominy would end in Providence, without a winner-take-all Game 3.

“I bet myself that Tommy was going to score,” Kolarik said. “And I was right.”

With 7:30 gone by in the extra frame, defenseman Dylan Reese intercepted a Brown clearance attempt just inside the blue line. The freshman whipped the puck at Yann Danis from straight on, forcing the Bears’ goaltender to shift slightly to his left to record the save.

But Danis could not control the rebound, which bounced hard off his padding and slid to his stick side.

And right onto the tape of Cavanagh’s expectant stick.

With Danis frantically shuffling back into position, Cavanagh had more than enough space to slap the second effort past him for the series ender.

“The rebound came right out in front,” Cavanagh said. “I was right there and just put it through his legs.”

But, as was the case during the goal-scoring drought, looking so narrowly at Cavanagh’s offensive production and considering only his own tallies tells just a fraction of the story.

In the stretch between the Monday-night showdown against the Huskies and Game 1 of the ECAC quarterfinals, Cavanagh had zero goals in nine games. And nine assists, including two in the opening matchup with Brown.

Following quickly on the heels of a slow-paced, neutral-zone trap dominated period to kick the series off, Cavanagh won the opening faceoff for the second, allowing Harvard to crash the Bears’ zone and apply immediate pressure. On the weekend, Cavanagh claimed 25 draws for the Crimson, one of just two skaters—senior Dennis Packard being the other—to win more than 50 percent of his attempts.