Junior co-captain Kyle Criscuolo, shown here in last year's inaugural Rivalry on Ice, has been one of Harvard's top point-earners this season with six goals and 11 assists.

Patrick McNally has noticed something different around the Bright-Landry Hockey Center this season. Something other than the renovated locker rooms or expanded walkway. It’s something in the air.

“I think that it’s an atmosphere where everyone’s excited to play the next game,” said the fourth-year junior defenseman earlier this week. “In the past, maybe that excitement was kind of missing with almost a sense of, like, ‘We need to win.’” 

Looking to improve on a seven-game winning streak, the No. 3/3 Harvard men’s hockey team will trade the confines of its Allston home for Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, when the Crimson (10-1-2, 6-1-2 ECAC) faces No. 19/- Yale (8-4-2, 4-3-1) in the second edition of the Rivalry On Ice game.

Over the past three months, Harvard has rekindled a culture of winning that had been missing for years. In November, the Crimson took out Hockey East’s top three teams on the road. In December, Harvard earned a decisive victory at Quinnipiac. And just last week, the Crimson stormed back from an early deficit to rout Rensselaer.

Harvard now sits No. 1 in every objective metric for nationally ranking college teams—win percentage, PairWise, RPI, KRACH, you name it. Naturally, positive vibes have been building around the squad and, according to McNally, have become self-reinforcing.

“You see the team during this streak, and everyone’s excited to go down to the rink, everyone’s upbeat,” McNally said. “I think that definitely helps with practice…and helps us get better.”

Neither McNally nor any of the other 30 players on the Crimson roster have been part of an intercollegiate streak like this. Prior to this year, Harvard’s program had not won seven straight games since the 2003-2004 season—the year before coach Ted Donato ’91 took the reins.

Among Donato’s tasks these days is an unanticipated yet welcome one: making sure that his players do not rest on their recent success.

“We weren’t picked especially positively by anybody at the beginning of the year, but we didn’t allow ourselves to get down,” Donato said. “On the flipside, I don’t think that we should be all too excited that we’re ranked higher now.” 

Given the opponent, Harvard should not have a problem keeping an even keel going into Saturday’s game. After all, the Crimson’s only loss of the season is courtesy of Yale, and only a handful of seniors can say that they’ve beaten the Bulldogs. Junior co-captain Kyle Criscuolo is quick to reject the “favorite” label when talking about the match-up.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say we’re the favorite,” Criscuolo said. “Yale got us earlier this year, so it’s always tough.”

Against Harvard, the Bulldogs have taken five straight games—the most recent one a 2-1 defensive clinic at the Bright-Landry on Nov. 15. Sophomore goaltender Alex Lyon gave the hosts fits, holding the Crimson scoreless until the game’s final seconds.

Since then, Harvard has been perfect, while Yale has had mixed success. The Bulldogs cracked the national rankings on Monday but blew a two-goal lead to a down-and-up Northeastern team the next day.

While coach Keith Allain’s squad has struggled to generate offense, Yale has made up for it with defense and discipline. The Bulldogs have received the fewest penalties in college hockey—28 fewer than the next closest Division I team—and before Tuesday, they were tied for the national lead in goals against average.

Overall, the national champion pedigree is still there—11 players on Yale’s current roster were on the 2013 NCAA title team.

“There’s a lot of character there,” said Donato of the Bulldogs. “[They have] a lot of moxie to perform in the toughest of games.”

In some ways, the Rivalry On Ice is just another regular season game. Saturday’s result will not even count for points in the conference standings.

Yet the game has quickly gained traction among fans in its first two years, perhaps challenging the Beanpot as Harvard’s premier mid-season showcase. Madison Square Garden announced a crowd of 15,524 at the game’s debut last year, and the schools’ alumni organizations will once again sponsor a number of activities surrounding the main event.

On the rink, the rivalry has also intensified. The recent history between the teams includes two playoff series in three years and plenty of chippiness to go around. After their last contest, Allain accused Crimson skaters of trying to rattle his star goaltender with hits and late shots. This week, McNally did not hesitate calling Yale his team’s “biggest rival.”

For Harvard men’s hockey, the Bulldogs have become the new Big Red.

“I think any time you play Yale, there’s a little added incentive to make sure you’re prepared when you go in and [to make sure you] know that it’s going to be an absolute war,” Criscuolo said. “And then adding on the fact that we’re playing at Madison Square Garden, there’s going to be a special feeling in the locker room going into the game.”

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