Northeastern was in a giving mood and Harvard took the Huskies up on their generosity, scoring four power-play goals to take the third-place Beanpot game, 4-3, at the Garden on Monday.
Crimson defenseman Mason Langenbrunner, a 2020 Bruins fifth round draft pick, led the way with a pair of goals to lift the Crimson.
Langenbrunner joked he hadn’t scored two goal in a game since he was in bantams.
“Scoring two in the Garden is awesome,” said Langenbrunner. “I wish it was in the later (championship) game, but it’s always good to get a couple.”
Harvard was nursing a 4-3 lead in the third period when Northeastern’s Joaquim Lemay was given a five-minute major for crosschecking at 7:52. But this time, the Huskies were able to kill it off.
Then, with 6:54 left in regulation, Langenbrunner was called for tripping to give the Huskies a PP with a chance to tie but they could not capitalize.
The Huskies pulled the goalie for an extra skater but could not get the equalizer.
“Just undisciplined, dumb penalties and we can’t kill a penalty,” lamented Northeastern coach Jerry Keefe. “Five-on-five I think we played good hockey and we had a good week of practice, but everything was just self—inflicted.”
The Huskies took it to the Crimson for much of the first period, outshooting Harvard 11-5. But the Crimson managed to get out of the opening 20 minutes with a 1-1 tie.
Northeastern got on the board first at 15:38 when Harvard couldn’t control a couple of rebounds. First goalie Ben Charette stopped a Jackson Dorrington shot and then one from Cam Lund, but the second rebound put it on a tee for Jack Williams in the slot and the Northeastern captain pounded it home for a 1-0 lead.
But when Northeastern defenseman Jack Henry took a defensive zone holding penalty, the Crimson cashed in at 16:27.
Harvard left wing Mick Thompson was alone in the slot and, as Northeastern goalie Cameron Whitehead tried to poke check the puck away, Thompson’s shovel attempt went just wide. But Thompson gathered the puck behind the net and, before Whitehead could gather himself to hug the post, Thompson banked it off him for the equalizer.
Penalties got the best of the Huskies again. After Ben Poitras went to the box late in the first period, Mason Langenbrunner gave Harvard the lead 56 seconds into the second period. Taking a feed from Ben MacDonald from the side of the crease, Langenbrunner ripped a one-timer past Whitehead from the slot.
Infractions continued to dog the Huskies. Just seconds after the Huskies went down a skater for too-many-men, Harvard took a 3-1 lead at 6:03. Parked in the slot, Casey Severo tipped home an Ian Moore blue line shot to make it 3-1 and that was it for Whitehead, who was replaced by Quentin Sigurdson.
After Sigurdson promptly made an excellent pad save, Northeastern scratched back for a goal at 8:05 when Cristophe Tellier fought through a crowd in front and lifted it over Charette.
But the Crimson would go 4-for-4 on the power play at 14:01 when, off a rebound, Langenbrunner popped it home for his second of the game.
The Huskies got one back with 1:04 left in the second when a neutral zone turnover led to a 2-on-1. Joe Connor sent a wing-to-wing pass to Williams, who ripped home a one-timer for his second of the game.