Sophomore Alexander Kerfoot, seen here in prior action, had two assists in the Crimson's 2-0 win over Dartmouth.

When the Harvard men’s hockey team hosted Dartmouth in its season opener, junior goaltender Steve Michalek allowed the Big Green to push three goals past him on 37 shots, as the Crimson skated to a 3-3 tie on home ice.

When Harvard traveled to Hanover this time around, Michalek made sure that Dartmouth didn’t have such luck again.

Facing 29 shots from the Big Green, the junior did not allow a single goal in the teams’ second matchup of the year, pitching a shutout as the Crimson bounced back from a close loss to archrival Yale over the weekend to emerge victorious in Thompson Arena, 2-0.

“We didn’t play our best,” junior co-captain Kyle Criscuolo said. “But it’s huge to come away with a win. It’s not easy to play in back-to-back very low scoring games, but I think it is telling that we were able to buckle down in the defensive zone.”

As was the case in the first matchup of the year, McNally provided the offensive spark that propelled Harvard (4-1-2, 3-1-2 ECAC). Sophomore Alexander Kerfoot received a pass from Criscuolo off a neutral zone turnover and left a drop pass for McNally, who fired it into the back of the net less than eleven minutes into the first period to give the Crimson a 1-0 lead.

McNally’s three goals on the season have all come against the Big Green (2-3-1, 2-3-1 ECAC). Tuesday’s goal, unlike his two that led to a 3-3 tie in the opener, proved to be the game winner.

With his assist, Criscuolo now has scored a point in all seven games this year. Both he and McNally have nine points on the season.

While Big Green goaltender James Kruger stopped 22 of 23 shots on the night, it was not enough against a strong Crimson defense, as Michalek shut down the Dartmouth attack on the night. Tuesday evening’s contest marks the first time that Harvard has pitched a shutout in Hanover since 1953. Michalek leads the ECAC in save percentage through the early portion of the season with a rate of .949.

“I think it was a good team effort, especially defensively,” junior defenseman Patrick McNally said. “We bore down and held onto the one-goal lead through the second and third [periods].”

While Harvard did not convert any of its four power play opportunities on the night, the team did remain perfect on the year for penalty kills, fending off five Dartmouth chances while a man-up. After an interference call on junior Brayden Jaw gave the Big Green a man advantage with less than five minutes to play, Kerfoot and junior defenseman Max Everson blocked a combined three shots on the penalty kill to preserve the 1-0 lead. The defense has not surrendered a goal in the 26 instances that the team has been a man down.

“Special teams are enormous in ECAC because games are usually so tight,” Criscuolo said. “Being able to kill penalties has allowed us to keep leads and not give them momentum when we take a penalty.”

Junior forward Jimmy Vesey buried an empty-netter in the waning seconds of the game from the defensive zone to secure the win for Harvard. The goal marks his sixth of the year and is only one shy of conference leader Sam Anas of Quinnipiac.

The win moves Harvard into a tie for first in the ECAC standings with Quinnipiac and Rensselaer. 

“It’s good to get off to a good start,” McNally said. “But it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t keep it going.”

—Staff writer Kurt T. Bullard can be reached at kurtbullard@college.harvard.edu.