Beverly hockey outlasts Revere after wild third period

SALEM – Simply put, it was probably one of the wildest third periods of the season in the Northeastern Conference on Saturday at Rockett Arena between Beverly and Revere.For 30 minutes, things were relatively tame and mild as the Panthers had a 3-1 lead and looked well on their way to a ninth win of the season ? then things went berserk.Over a 3:05 stretch of the third period, the teams combined to score five times. When the ice chips had settled, Beverly’s Connor Irving had a five-point night and Troy Cabral had scored twice in the final four minutes to give the Panthers a 6-4 win.”It was ugly,” Beverly coach Bob Gilligan said. “But it’s good that we were able to get a win out of this game.”From the way things began, it looked like the Panthers (9-2-1) might just run Revere (4-6-0) right out of the rink as Jake Straw struck just 122 seconds into the contest on a rebound of a Cabral shot.Beverly would dominate nearly the entire first 15 minutes, leading the shots on goal 13-4, and took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission when Straw struck again off an Irving pass at 8:54.The Patriots took some of that momentum away on the first shift of the second period when Peter Marino potted a Dale Paradise pass in the high slot at the 39 second mark to cut the lead to 2-1.It stayed 2-1 until late in the second when Revere found itself with a 36 second 2-man advantage after Andrew Irving and Brenden Mitchell were called for penalties.Yet it was the Panthers who turned the 2-man disadvantage into offense when Connor Irving intercepted goaltender Jeff Redding’s clearing pass and slid the puck into the yawning net to make it 3-1 Beverly.”That was just brutal,” Revere coach Jim Palumbo said. “We had played such a good period up to that point and then that happens. You could see everyone’s head sink a little bit on the bench.”Beverly nearly put the dagger through Revere’s hopes early in the third but Redding made a huge stop on Mitch Hamor’s point blank bid and seemed to give his team a big boost in the process.Drew Lauria made things interesting with 6:31 remaining when he netted a Joe Corbett pass and cut the lead to 3-2. Little did anyone know at the time, but it started a flurry of goals that would leave everyone’s head spinning in the crowd.Less than a minute later, Marino converted off a Beverly giveaway to tie the game at 3-3. On the very next shift, Connor Irving crashed the net and shoveled a Straw rebound home to put Beverly back in front by a goal.That lead lasted all of 54 seconds as Paradise snapped a shot over Tony Walsh’s shoulder and it was tied up once again. Cabral, however, would have the final say.Just 26 ticks after Revere tied it, Cabral put the Panthers ahead for good as he finished off an Irving pass with 3:26 left for a 5-4 lead. Less than a minute later, Hamor set up Cabral again to put Beverly ahead 6-4.