A mere 52 seconds later, Maki added a third, backhanding home the game-winner off a rebound to McKenna’s left.
“They’re very good with a lead,” St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh said. “A lot of the things we didn’t want to have happen happened fairly early on. But the goals they got were good goals on tip-ins. I can’t fault our goaltender on ‘em.”
Comfortably ahead, Harvard at once skated with diminished intensity, allowing St. Lawrence (14-16-2, 8-11-1) to draw within two less than three minutes later at 6:27.
With a power play drawing to a close, Saints blueliner Mike Madill hemmed in the Crimson’s attempt to clear its defensive zone before dumping the puck along the lefthand boards. Pivot Max Taylor worked the puck to Mike Zbringer in front, where the latter tucked a cross-crease shot just inside the left post to scuttle Dov Grumet-Morris’ hopes for a school-record 10th career shutout.
Shaken from its minutes-long slumber, Harvard answered in characteristic fashion—sophomore Kevin Du tipped home assistant captain Ryan Lannon’s effort from the point—just moments later, dashing the Saints’ comeback aspirations at 11:58.
“Whew,” Marsh said. “That was a killer.”
HARVARD 5, CLARKSON 0
It took the Crimson two full periods to squeeze off 10 shots against No. 2 Boston College in the consolation final of the Beanpot. On Friday against Clarkson, Harvard notched that many in the two-minute span of its first power play.
The opportunities came early and often for the trigger-happy Crimson as Harvard routed the Golden Knights (11-18-2, 7-11-1) on the strength of its special teams and yet another flawless game in net from Grumet-Morris, who notched his fourth shutout of the season and ninth of his career, tying the school record.
“Our penalty kill was fantastic tonight,” Grumet-Morris said. “We just executed our system and backchecked a lot better [than against the Eagles].”
With 2:15 remaining in the first period and 1:14 left on Dylan Reese’s obstruction-interference minor, Du deftly stripped Clarkson’s Grant Clitsome as he attempted to carry the puck out of the Golden Knights’ zone, allowing the sophomore center to skate in all alone on goaltender Dustin Traylen. Deking twice, Du brought the puck over to Traylen’s stick side before backhanding it just inside the left post for the game-winner, Harvard’s second shorthanded tally of the season.
But it was captain Noah Welch, who, as against Boston College, prodded the Crimson to continue tossing the puck on net, this time with much greater success. Welch fired seven shots on goal, three of which resulted in Crimson scores.
Credited with the primary assist on Harvard’s second goal—a rebound potted by Maki at 10:19 in the second—Welch sniped a power-play tally of his own from the blue line just under seven minutes later, courtesy of freshman Jon Pelle.
“It was just good puck movement,” Welch said. “And again, we just got the puck to the net.”
Welch returned the favor on the Crimson’s final score of the night, when his between-the-legs shot from just beyond the crease kicked to Pelle, who somehow managed to bury the rebound with a no-angle top-shelf effort.
For his part, Grumet-Morris, who leads the nation in save percentage with his .947 mark and is second in goals-against average with 1.62, turned aside all 28 shots he faced, only six of which were attempted from the ice immediately beyond the crease.
“It really does have to do with that—that we’re so much older and dress six drafted defensemen each night,” he said.
Harvard hosts its travel partner, Brown, this evening at 7 p.m. at the Bright Hockey Center.
—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.