Senior forward Alex Killorn and the Harvard men’s hockey team dropped their Beanpot semifinal matchup against the top-ranked Terriers Monday night at TD Garden. Killorn—who paces the Crimson with 15 goals on the season—gave Harvard its lone tally of the game at 15:27 in the second.

Just looking at most of the box score for Monday evening’s Beanpot matchup between Boston University and Harvard, it would seem as if the Crimson had the slight edge over the Terriers.

Harvard (7-7-9, 6-4-7 ECAC) outshot BU 30-25, won more faceoffs than the Terriers, 36-31, and had only one more penalty.

But with BU (17-8-1, 13-6-1 Hockey East) being the No. 1 team in the nation, the Crimson had little room for error. Making a few too many mistakes and not converting on all of its opportunities, Harvard suffered a 3-1 loss in the semifinals of the Beanpot Monday night at the TD Banknorth Garden.

The Crimson had trouble generating any momentum in the first portion of the game, and was whistled for six penalties by the end of the second period. The Terriers’ goaltender Kieran Millan didn’t make it any easier for underdog Harvard, earning 29 saves including a couple on breakaways while frustrating the Crimson throughout most of the night.

FRUSTRATING PENALTIES

Although BU was only one of five on the power play, early penalties by Harvard contributed to team’s initial deficit and eventual loss.

“We were in the box far too often in the first half of the game,” said Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91. “It made it awfully tough for us to back into it.”

Evan Rodrigues had the first penalty of the night 9:12 into the first frame for BU, but then Harvard was called for five consecutive penalties, including two straight by junior Marshall Everson.

The man-down disadvantages prevented the Crimson from generating any consistent, offensive threat, while also fatiguing the penalty-kill lines early on.

“It gets frustrating because, when you’re on the [penalty-kill] for like ten minutes, you only rotate like four guys,” said assistant captain Alex Killorn, who scored the Crimson’s lone goal on a power play. “So you’re shortening the bench, and you’re not getting into a flow of players. It’s tough grabbing momentum like that.”

The Terriers were 0-3 in the first period on the power play but were able to score an even-strength goal on a Matt Nieto wraparound 8:14 into the first.

And on its fourth power-play bid, BU was finally able to convert, with Wade Megan scoring his first of two goals on the night on a turnover and breakdown by Harvard in the defensive zone. He added his second a few minutes later, putting the Terriers up 3-0.

Despite being called for only one of remaining five penalties in the game, the Crimson could not muster a comeback and will not reach its first Beanpot finals since 2008.

CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR

Harvard had various chances to score throughout Monday night’s game but was thwarted time and time again by the BU defense and the stellar play of goalie Kieran Millan.