Tri-captain Kate Buesser, shown here in earlier action, scored the last two goals of yesterday’s game with Minnesota, which the Crimson lost, 4-2. Buesser now leads the team with eight points on the year.

When it keeps all of its skates on the ice, the Harvard women’s hockey team has shown the ability to outshoot some of the top teams in the nation.

But struggles with penalties have proven to the Crimson’s kryptonite this season, and this weekend’s contests against No. 7 Minnesota (10-5-0, 5-5-0 WCHA) were no exception. Entering the weekend ranked last in the nation on the penalty kill, No. 9 Harvard (4-4-2, 4-2-2 ECAC) surrendered four power-play goals over two games en route to losing back-to-back contests at Ridder Arena. The Golden Gophers felled the Crimson, 3-0, on Friday before topping Harvard’s skaters, 4-2, in yesterday’s game.

“[On the penalty kill], we have a lot [to] work on,” tri-captain Liza Ryabkina said. “We made minor mistakes that could be avoided.”

The lapses overshadowed a weekend in which Harvard outshot Minnesota, 59-44.

“The whole team put in an incredible effort. We were determined to play our game, no matter what the score said,” Ryabkina said. “If we see them [again], we’re going to be ready.”

MINNESOTA 4, HARVARD 2

Three Gopher goals in 20 minutes of ice time put to rest any hopes the Crimson had of splitting its weekend slate.

“I think we let them have a lot more shots [during that time],” senior forward Katharine Chute said. “We came out with a lot of intensity. We let that fall back...one thing we’re looking to do is to play a full 60 minutes. We gave them a few too many chances during that stretch.”

Minnesota junior Kelly Seeler was the first skater to put the puck in the net. Barely inside the offensive zone, the defenseman rifled a slapshot past Harvard rookie netminder Lauren Joarnt. Four minutes later, the Gophers struck again, this time with a goal from Sarah Erickson.

After Joarnt had allowed her fourth goal, she was replaced by sophomore Laura Bellamy. The duo has been splitting time of late, alternating in the starter’s spot over the past three weekends.

“They’re both playing to the best of their abilities,” Ryabkina said. “We weren’t there on the rebounds. We never expect goalies to get the second, third rebounds.”

“I think they played pretty well,” tri-captain Kate Buesser added. “We just need to give them some better defensive support.”

The Crimson provided Bellamy with that support in the second half of Sunday’s game. The sophomore only faced four shots and was able to turn them all away.

Having outshot Minnesota all game long, Harvard finally converted with a little over two minutes left in the second period. On the power play, the Crimson was able to mount enough pressure in front of the net to confuse Gopher sophomore goaltender Noora Raty and give Buesser room to find the net. Almost 20 minutes later, Buesser struck again to bring the game within two, but by then a Minnesota victory was all but assured.

“[They] were a couple of really fun games,” Chute said. “I think we stepped it up a notch...Everyone brought their best game.”