Freshman Conor Morrison scored his ninth goal of the season in a 4-1 loss to Northeastern last night at TD Garden. The Crimson dropped the consolation game of the 58th Beanpot tournament despite goalie Ryan Carroll’s 30 saves. The Huskies outshot their opponents, 34-29, and were one-of-four on the power play. Harvard was unable to convert on its six power-play opportunities, leading to the Crimson’s 14th loss of the season.

BOSTON—For all the hoopla surrounding the annual Beanpot tournament, the one thing that often gets overlooked is just how difficult it is to play for third place.

Last night in a nearly-empty TD Garden, the Harvard men’s hockey team (6-14-3, 6-7-3 ECAC) met Northeastern (13-12-1, 8-10-1 Hockey East) in the consolation game of the 58th Beanpot, falling, 4-1, in a contest that lacked energy and spirit.

“You’re going after the afterglow of the Monday night game, with its big crowd and a lot of energy,” Huskies coach Greg Cronin said. “It’s tough for both teams to go out in a big arena like this when there’s nobody in it.”

Playing its third game in four nights, the Crimson started the game slow and never quite found its spark.

Harvard was given a series of gifts early on, as Northeastern was called for three penalties in the first period—including back-to-back penalties to Chris Donovan and Mike Hewkin to give the Crimson 86 seconds of 5-on-3 play.

But Harvard failed to capitalize, generating just one shot in its three first-period power-play chances.

Instead, it was the Huskies who got on the board first, striking with seconds remaining on Hewkin’s hitting-from-behind penalty.

Northeastern captain Tyler McNeely took a pass from freshman Jake Newton and got Crimson junior blueliner Chris Huxley one-on-one on the left boards. McNeely shook Huxley to streak towards the net alone, beating junior goaltender Ryan Carroll to light the lamp at 17:53.

“I picked up the puck, and I think the defenseman thought I was slowing down to make a move,” McNeely explained. “I just tried to pull it wide and pull it around the goalie and put it far side.”

A minute after McNeely’s tally, Harvard senior Ian Tallett drew an interference penalty that extended to the beginning of the second frame.

“I thought we started the game a little bit flat—put ourselves in some tough situations penalty-wise,” said Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91.

Although the Huskies could not capitalize on the power play, just a few seconds later, Drew Daniels got the puck from J.P. Maley and fired a laser from the blue line. Carroll made the initial save, but assistant captain Greg Costa picked up the rebound, brought it out to the right side of the net, and backhanded it into the cage.

For the rest of the period, Harvard would come together to play its best hockey of the night.

Costa and Crimson sophomore Alex Killorn were boxed for back-to-back penalties, and in the 4-on-4 situation, Harvard found the room to create a chance.

Immediately following a faceoff, senior defender Chad Morin received the puck on the blue line. He crossed it to sophomore Ryan Grimshaw at the left point, and the blueliner let a long shot fly.