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UPDATED: February 6, 2017, at 11:30 p.m.

BOSTON — Two years ago, a 3-1 lead vanished against Boston University. Last season, a 2-1 third-period edge over Boston College disappeared just the same. And Monday night, a 4-1 advantage versus Northeastern was beginning to shrink.

Attacking relentlessly with their goalie pulled to keep Beanpot hopes alive, the Huskies pulled to within one score of the No. 4/5 Harvard men’s hockey team with just 1:33 remaining. Making matters worse, a lengthy goal review followed, leaving TD Garden attendees with ample time to ponder whether the demons of Crimson Beanpot past might be in town for their almost annual appearance.

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But on this occasion, Harvard's four goals—scored exclusively by a senior class stuck playing in its seventh straight Beanpot matinee—proved to be enough. Enough to hold off the pesky Huskies. Enough to erase a nine-year championship game drought. And enough to put the Crimson in position to claim its first Beanpot trophy in 24 years next Monday.

“I don’t think you really experience the Beanpot until you have a chance to play in the finals,” Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “I think it’s an important step for our group, and I know our senior leadership was on display.”

Co-captain Alexander Kerfoot, defenseman Clay Anderson, and forwards Tyler Moy and Luke Esposito all lit the lamp to help set up next Monday’s marquee matchup against No. 3 Boston University. But it wasn’t until the third period that the Crimson’s seniors broke the game open.

An unlikely scorer by trade, Anderson gave Harvard (16-5-2, 11-4-2 ECAC) its first lead of the final frame with just nine seconds remaining on a Crimson power play stemming from a slash against Northeastern’s Sam Kurker. Collecting a feed from Esposito atop the slot, Harvard’s eldest defenseman sent a slapper past goaltender Ryan Ruck to put Harvard up, 2-1, with 12:21 to play in the contest.

Hardly two minutes later, Moy doubled the Crimson advantage from Ruck’s left post, persistently poking at a loose puck behind the sprawled-out netminder until it slipped into the back of the net. Then down a man with 7:42 to go, Esposito took advantage of some shaky goaltending, knocking in a rebound off a Kerfoot blast to up the edge to 4-1.

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The three-goal margin would not last for long, however, as Northeastern associate captain Nolan Stevens knocked home the Huskies’ second goal of the night from the edge of the crease about a minute later on the man advantage—one of two conversions for a power-play unit ranked second in the country.

The game would remain 4-2 for another five minutes, but with 1:33 remaining in regulation, a sea of bodies—then the puck—went tumbling into Merrick Madsen’s net, effectively creating a whole new ball game.

Over the course of the lengthy review that followed—one that yielded inconclusive evidence as to whether the call on the ice was correct—Donato gathered his team and told them to expect the call to stand.

“We just tried to get the group together and said, ‘Hey, listen. We’re going to have to win the last minute and a half to win the hockey game,” Donato recalled. “‘Let’s not have our heart set on what this result comes back. Let’s just be ready to battle.’”

Battle Harvard did, but that didn’t stop an attempted equalizer off the stick of junior Dylan Sikura from nearly trickling past Madsen as the final seconds wound off the clock. In the end, however, each tick came off the board, and the Crimson eked out a 4-3 victory.

The seven-goal sum between the two sides was hardly a surprising outcome, as both Northeastern (11-12-5, 5-9-3 Hockey East) and Harvard entered Monday with top-10 scoring offenses and top-three power-play units. But it was an outcome that had grown rather unlikely after the opening 30 minutes of action lacked many scoring chances.

“I thought both teams played careful,” Donato said. “We had a lot of respect for them offensively…. We wanted to make sure that we weren’t jumpstarting their offense by being careless with the puck.”

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Cautious hockey resulted in the two teams combining for just 11 shots on goal in the opening frame—the lowest first-period shot total Harvard’s been a part of all season. But the Crimson began to push the tempo in the second, throwing 12 shots at Ruck in the frame.

Only one of those attempts flew past the netminder, and it was certainly the luckiest. Just as Kurker gained possession in the Harvard zone and began moving the puck up along the right boards, sophomore defenseman Viktor Dombrovskiy cut his progress short from the blue paint.

Then stationed just outside the slot with the rest of his teammates already having left the zone, Kerfoot stretched his stick far enough in the air to redirect a Dombrovskiy flailer past Ruck from distance.

Kerfoot’s breakthrough was eventually answered before second period’s end by sophomore Adam Gaudette, who finished with two goals on the night for the Huskies. But Harvard’s three-goal third made all the difference in sending the Crimson to Monday’s tournament finale.

“I think it’ll be cool to come out for warm-ups and [have] more than seven people in the stands,” Kerfoot said. “We haven’t played a night game. I think for the last three years, it’s been pretty demoralizing coming on the second Monday and playing in that consolation game. No one wants to be a part of that.”

“But we want to go one step further and win the championship,” the co-captain added. “We’re really excited for next weekend, and we’ll be ready.”

GAME NOTES

Junior goaltender Merrick Madsen made 27 saves in the win but sustained a lower-body injury in the final seconds of regulation that left him struggling to reach his feet after the final whistle sounded. The junior would eventually join the handshake line, but he had to hobble his way off the ice.

Donato said in the postgame presser that the injury did not appear to be anything major, and at the very least, he didn’t expect Madsen to miss any extended period of time. Only time will tell whether Donato’s words hold true.

—Staff writer Jake Meagher can be reached at jake.meagher@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @MeagherTHC.