The call ejected D’Oench from the game and sent Harvard scrambling on the penalty kill. Maschmeyer recorded seven stops in the period, including an acrobatic glove save with four minutes left.

“A five-minute penalty…[is] a long penalty,” Maschmeyer said. “For me, my mindset is that it’s one shot at a time, [so] don’t think ahead. Obviously a lot can happen in five minutes.”

The Crimson received some additional help from the right post, which rejected a try from the right side in the final two minutes of the kill.

Yet neither player nor post could block BC’s first goal, which arrived with less than five minutes to play in regulation.  At the end of an offensive set for the Eagles, a rebound slid toward senior forward Emily Field, who one-timed the puck into the top corner to trim the margin to one.

Despite newfound urgency, BC could not find the same open-ice offense that it had employed throughout the game, particularly in the second period. In that frame, play opened up into a series of counterattacks, and the Eagles pinged shot after shot, ending the period with a 26-12 advantage in the statistic. 

But Harvard held, even launching some mischief of its own. At 4:11, the Crimson had an apparent breakaway opportunity only to stop dead when an official dinged the team for a mistimed substitution.

At the end of the game, though, a call that hurt Harvard led to perhaps the decisive Crimson offensive sequence of the night. With 12:50 left to play, Harvard freshman forward Haley Mullins skated to the bench to serve time for an interference call. Yet, 10 seconds later, Parker and company were skating in the opposite direction—to celebrate a second goal with the team bench on the shorthanded goal. 

“We got the job done,” Stone said. “We are thrilled to be playing in the final game of the season, and we’re looking forward to trying to finish the job.”

—Staff writer Sam Danello can be reached at sdanello@thecrimson.com.