The Crimson found those holes with four scoring plays that featured pure, precise passing.

Welch had the first, only 24 seconds into the second, on a cross-ice transition pass from Cavanagh. Brent Robinson tied it midway through the period, but the Crimson moved ahead to stay at 15:24, when Kolarik squeezed a sharp-angle goal past Danis for a 2-1 lead. Both sides agreed that was the biggest goal of the game.

Said Kolarik: “I figured, ‘Why not?’...I just fired it. I didn’t think he was ready.”

Said Danis: “That one, I should’ve had.”

Harvard went up 3-1 about four minutes into the third on a vintage Cavanagh play. He used his speed to turn a center-ice 3-on-2 into a 2-on-1 by the time he worked into the left circle. From there, he fed longtime linemate Pettit, who hammered his ninth of the year into an empty top-shelf.

“It was one of those things where we read off each other,” Cavanagh said. “Timmy always goes to the net hard.”

The Crimson finished the scoring on a tic-tac-toe power-play goal from Kolarik to Reese to Brendan Bernakevitch with eight minutes left. Harvard finished 2-4 on the power play in Game 1—only the third time this season it has scored twice on the power play.

“We have so many weapons,” Welch said. “We’re finally using them all.”

Those words remind you a little of 2002, don’t they?

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