CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A three-goal third period helped lift Harvard men's ice hockey (14-8-3, 11-5-3 ECAC Hockey) to a come-from-behind 4-3 win over Princeton (8-15-2, 7-10-1 ECAC Hockey) on Friday night (Feb. 18) at Bright-Landry Hockey Center.
Trailing 2-1 heading into the third period, first-year forward
Matthew Coronato, first-year forward
Alex Gaffney, and sophomore forward
Alex Laferriere scored goals in a span of 7:04 to open the period and help Harvard to the hard-earned win.
Senior forward
Jack Donato added a goal, and junior goaltender
Mitchell Gibson made 28 saves to earn the win in net.
Harvard outshot Princeton 45-31 for the night, including a 25-11 edge in the third period.
The Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Finn Evans (5:39) and Matthew Thom (11:14), and maintained that lead until late in the second period, when Donato struck to give Harvard some life.
After a forced turnover by
Baker Shore, senior forward
Casey Dornbach had a great chance on a setup by Donato, but his shot went wide of the net. Donato corralled the rebound and fired a wide angle shot past Princeton goaltender Aidan Porter (41 saves) at 19:01 of the second period.
Then the Crimson surged in front, first tying the game on a beautiful end-to-end rush by Coronato at 1:27 of the third period to make it 2-2.
Just over two minutes later, junior forward
John Farinacci found Gaffney streaking down the middle of the ice, and he fired a low shot past Porter at 3:29 to give Harvard its first lead of the night.
Farinacci was at the center of Harvard's next goal on the power play, making a beautiful seam pass to Laferriere for a tap -in goal at 7:04 to make it 4-2.
Princeton's Pito Walton scored a power play goal at 11:21, but the Tigers would get no closer.
Harvard Highlights
- Junior forward John Farinacci (two assists) recorded his sixth multiple-point game of the season.
- First-year forward Matthew Coronato (goal) has five goals in his last seven games.
- Senior forward Jack Donato (goal) has four goals in his last five games.
Game Notes
- Harvard is now 5-1-2 in its last eight games, including a 4-0-1 mark against its last five ECAC Hockey opponents.
- Harvard is now 7-1-1 against Ivy teams, and has 23 points, eight points clear of Princeton (5-2, 15 points). A Dartmouth win or OT result against Princeton tomorrow night gives Harvard a share of its 24th Ivy League title and first since 2017.
- U.S. Olympians Nick Abruzzese and Sean Farrell made their return to the Harvard lineup.
