The No. 4 Harvard Crimson exploded for four goals in the second period and took a commanding 5-0 lead on the visiting Providence Friars at Bright Hockey Center in Boston. After a 15-5 shots edge over the beginning stanza, Harvard more than doubled its output in the middle period with a 17-17 advantage.

After coming out of the penalty box from a tripping call a little earlier, senior Kaitlin Spurling scored her third goal of the season on the doorstep of PC junior Nina Riley's crease at the 7:19 mark of the stanza, giving the Crimson a 2-0 lead.

Senior Jillian Dempsey, a Winthrop, Mass. native and product of The Rivers School, scored twice in less than the next three minutes to double the offensive output of the Crimson in the contest. At 7:38, junior linemate Kailey Armstrong found the captain in the pretty wrist shot through the pads of Riley. Dempsey and Armstrong connected again at 9:59 as she buried another nifty wrist shot under the five-hole.

At 17:26, New York, N.Y. native Miye D'Oench potted the third goal of her rookie campaign, taking a pass from veteran Kelsey Romatoski for the backhand goal in front.

Joshua Kummins is the Hockey East beat writer and a weekend editor for SB Nation Boston. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKummins.