The start mirrored the beginning of last year’s Beanpot contest between the two squads, when the Terriers opened up a one-goal lead coming into the first intermission.

But comparisons with last year’s Harvard-Boston University matchup—in which the Crimson responded with three second-period goals—quickly fell apart. This time around, the Terriers quieted the Crimson attack, and Megan opened the gap to 2-0 a little over seven minutes into the second.

Megan struck again at 14:02, when, just outside the crease, he dragged the puck to his right before slotting it over Michalek’s left shoulder.

Killorn’s goal 1:25 later brought the Crimson within striking distance, down by two.

“It’s a position we’ve been in a bunch of times this year,” Killorn said. “It’s not like we’re sagging our heads in disappointment. We kind of take it as a challenge. We thought that we could mount a comeback.”

The score prompted Donato to substitute Girard in favor of Michalek. But against BU, the Crimson couldn’t manage the late-game theatrics that had lifted the team to a number of ties and wins throughout the season, failing to score the rest of the way.

“I really felt that if we could’ve somehow gotten a second one,” Donato said. “It would’ve kind of taken some momentum and really made the game a little bit different.”

—Staff writer Robert S. Samuels can be reached at robertsamuels@college.harvard.edu.