Six-goal first propels Peabody past Swampscott

PEABODY – Before his team took the ice against Swampscott at McVann-O’Keefe Rink on Wednesday, Peabody coach Mark Leonard was worried that his Tanners might have a letdown following an emotional comeback win over Masconomet on Saturday.Leonard needn’t be worried, though, as the Tanners came out flying and put Swampscott on ice with six first-period goals en route to an 8-1 win.Click here for a photo gallery.”We had talked about coming out and getting a quick start,” Leonard said. “We wanted to come out and take control and we did that, certainly. Six goals in the first left no doubt about that.”The Tanners (7-1, 6-0 NEC) unleashed a 20-shot barrage on Swampscott’s Tyler Gallagher in the first period and left little doubt about what the outcome would be.”We were just sloppy defensively right from the start,” Swampscott coach Gino Faia said. “And you can’t do that against a skilled team like (Peabody) is.”Peabody didn’t waste much time in getting the scoring started as Connor Purcell’s centering pass hit a skate and got past Gallagher just 77 seconds in.Just under four minutes later, the “Three Amigos” line for the Tanners got going as Matt Rodgers set up linemate Derrik Pereira at the end of a power play to make it 2-0.Five minutes later, the third amigo joined in as Andrew Bucci ripped his 12th goal of the season past Gallagher off a Pereira faceoff win to make it 3-0.”Our defense was just out of sync in the first,” Faia said.Peabody then delivered the knockout blow with three goals in 1:04 at the close of the first. First, it was Pete Sucharewicz scoring at 13:53, then Bucci followed 13 ticks later before Rodgers scored an unassisted goal at 14:57.Peabody kept on buzzing in the second as defenseman Nick Ciampa scored off a Mike Chiappini faceoff win at 1:23 to make it a touchdown lead. Fourth-liner Chris Kordis then scored midway through the second to up the gap to 8-0.”I was proud of the guys with how they behaved with the big lead,” Leonard said. “And a lot of credit goes to Swampscott, too. They didn’t get chippy. They just kept coming and playing hard.”The Big Blue avoided the shutout with four minutes left when Tom Ball scored a power play goal, assisted by Justin Massey.