The top line of Ryabkina, Dempsey, and Buesser combined for six points, 13 shots, and a +6 rating on the night.

“Jillian’s a really feisty player and kind of gets in there and has great hands,” Buesser said. “And Liza’s just powerful, she’s got a lot of speed. So I think just the ability we have to pass, and how we see each other on the ice, is just really fun.”

Princeton got one back on a 5-on-3 power play just before the period ended. With Ryabkina already in the box, Griffin got sent off for hooking with 20.9 seconds on the clock.

Five seconds later, Tiger Laura Martindale put the puck past freshman netminder Laura Bellamy off assists from Sasha Sherry and Paula Romanchuk.

But even that blemish couldn’t take away from Harvard’s dominant first frame.

“I think that really set the tone, and really, we threw them back on their heels right away,” Buesser said. “If we play the way we did the first 15 minutes for the whole game, they don’t stand a chance tomorrow.”

Though the second period was the most balanced—each team put seven shots on net—the Crimson was the only team to capitalize.

At 15:15, freshman Margaret Chute passed the puck up to junior Leanna Coskren, who put a shot through a screen for her seventh goal of the season.

“Our focus has been to pressure them everywhere—we did a much better job of that today,” Stone said. “We changed our forecheck a little bit, and our kids are just, they’re going. There’s no hesitation. Give a team like [Princeton] some time and they’re going to hurt you...so we’re trying to take away as much as we can.”

Harvard came back to dominate the third period of play, outshooting the Tigers, 13-4, in the frame and 38-17 for the game.

“We rolled three lines and weren’t concerned about matchups, and the kids just got it done,” Stone said.

And the Crimson played with the kind of confidence it will need to carry throughout the postseason if it hopes to make noise on the national stage.

“That’s the thing—this team focuses on us,” Buesser said. “We play all these different teams, but it’s just another kid in another jersey. We’re here to see if they can keep up with us, not the other way around.”

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.