Less than three minutes later, junior forward Ryan Haggerty delivered the Engineers’ second goal on the power play. The nation’s leading scorer blasted a one-timer from the top of the left faceoff circle for his ninth goal of the year.

Brock Higgs added RPI’s third off a long lead pass from junior linemate Zach Schroeder. Higgs skated around Michalek’s poke-check to slide the puck through an unguarded crease.

Harvard nevertheless managed to reset after the first intermission. The initial miscues did not seem to faze the Crimson.

“We knew we had the team in here to get the job done,” Guiltinan said.

After an inauspicious start in his first game in over a year, Michalek settled in net to turn away RPI’s last 21 shots, a few from point-blank range.

“I think [Michalek] really responded from a tough start, dug in and played very good,” Donato said. “For the second and third periods, and as a group, we really learned a lot about ourselves tonight, so that was a positive.”

As Donato continues to assess his team’s goaltending, Harvard will likely turn to senior Raphael Girard when the Crimson hosts RPI at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center on Friday night. The young squad is also still getting a feel for its offensive capabilities.

“We’ll continue to make adjustments and continue to learn as any team does early in the season, but especially with the amount of underclassmen we have,” Donato said. “I think there’s a lot to be improved on, but I like the effort and the comeback was certainly a real team-builder.”

On Friday, the home team will look to limit the bad bounces and errors of Tuesday night’s first 20 minutes. The last 45 give Guiltinan confidence.

“I think we have more in the tank,” Guiltinan said.

—Staff writer Michael D. Ledecky can be reached at michael.ledecky@thecrimson.com.