“It’s hard to say this, but I thought that our goaltender was the difference in the game,” BC coach Jerry York said. “You can talk 5-1, but Billett had a major, major factor in the outcome of the game tonight.”

With a win in the teams’ 120th meeting, Boston College extended its streak versus Harvard to nine games. York is 23-5-2 in his share of the series.

Harvard’s frustrations on offense came to a head late in the third. Less than two minutes after sophomore Brayden Jaw was sent to the box for what appeared to be a retaliatory elbow to the head, six-foot-three freshman defender Kevin Guiltinan delivered a forceful blindside hit on the five-foot-eight Gaudreau.

Alternate  BC captain Bill Arnold came to his linemate’s defense and wrestled with Guiltinan along the Harvard backboards, and the pair received game misconducts in addition to major and minor penalties.

The chippiness continued through the end of the game.The Eagles violently tripped Kerfoot at the blueline with just over three minutes left, and BC defensemen Michael Matheson and Ian McCoshen drew the ire of Harvard sophomore Jimmy Vesey, who led all Crimson skaters with six shots.

Donato has praised his players throughout the year for their “compete level.”

Tuesday night he said that the squad got “caught watching” BC’s offensive fireworks, but he expressed optimism about where the Crimson is at.

“It’s still a work in progress,” Donato said. “We got a lot of young guys, but I really like the group. And we’ll show much improvement as we come together as a team and move forward.”

—Staff writer Michael D. Ledecky can be reached at michael.ledecky@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twiter @mdledecky.