Harvard was unable to capitalize on power plays, despite Minnesota senior Kelli Blankenship getting boxed for cross-checking at 4:59 into the third period. 70 seconds later, teammate Terra Rasmussen was called for hooking to give the Crimson a five-three advantage for 50 seconds. But the three Minnesota skaters packed in around the goal and prevented Harvard from penetrating, actually managing to take away the puck to set up a scoring opportunity of their own. Kessler made the save, falling to the ice in the process. A whistle was blown, and the senior recovered quickly.

Ryabkina, who took five shots in the second period, looked to find the back of the net again. Twice she was able to beat the Gopher defense, but neither ended in a tally for the Crimson. With around eight and a half minutes left in the game, the junior missed an open shot. Raty was able to get to her before she could register what would have been her second shot of the period.

“I just wanted to score because I knew how much everyone wanted to score,” the forward said. “Even though we didn’t find the back of the net in this game, we put a tremendous effort into it.”

Overtime gave the two teams one more chance to get on the board, but quick offsides calls for both teams set the tone for the five-minute period. Neither team would be able to mount much offense, and when the time expired, neither team would have a goal to its name.

The Gophers would board the plane back to the Twin Cities without having scored on a Crimson team that opened its season at 2-3-0.

“They’re getting better all the time,” Stone said of her team. “They’re able to ante up to whatever level we need to play at. For us, we need to set the pace at that intensity level every single time we play.”

—Staff writer Christina C. McClintock can be reached at ccmcclin@fas.harvard.edu.