For 59 minutes, Harvard and No. 18 Colgate were evenly matched at Bright Hockey Center, and neither side dominated the tightly contested game.

But in a stretch of just 41 seconds in the second period, the Crimson (1-2-1, 1-2-1 ECAC) men’s hockey team did more than enough to make up for a stalemate in the rest of the game, beating Colgate (6-4-1, 2-2-0), 4-2.

With under four minutes left in the second period and down by one, freshman defenseman Patrick McNally knocked one past the Raiders defense and into the net to tie the game at two.

And only seconds later, senior center Alex Killorn took a shot from a tough angle along the side of the goal, sneaking it just past Colgate goalie Eric Mihalek to give Harvard a 3-2 lead, its first of the night.

The Crimson added another score in the third period—a powerful strike from freshman left wing Colin Blackwell—to push Harvard’s lead to two, and the Raiders never recovered.

After coming in as a substitute against Colgate on Friday, freshman goalkeeper Steve Michalek had another solid game in the net, surrendering a goal early in the first period and again in the second, but shutting the Raiders down in the final period.

Both sides were penalized heavily all night, but neither team could capitalize on its power play chances until the second period. Late in that frame, Colgate right wing Nick Prockow was hit with a major penalty for grasping the facemask, a five minute infraction that gave Harvard a man up for the final minutes of the period.

Up to that point, the Crimson struggled all night on the power play. But down by one, Harvard scored two with the one-man advantage en route to its first win of the year.