WATERTOWN – Earlier this week, the entire Lynn Jets coaching staff paid a visit to the Stoneham Rink and saw Saugus come back from a two-goal deficit to win its tournament game in overtime.The coaches must have learned their lessons well ? and imparted them to their players even better. Because just like Saugus Tuesday, the Jets spotted Weston a two-goal lead only to come storming back to win, 5-3, at Ryan Arena in the first round of the MIAA Division 3 North boys hockey tournament.Lynn, which qualified for the tournament thanks to a forfeit by Rockport after the final game of the regular season, plays in the quarterfinals Sunday (5:30) against No. 1 Bedford.”We talked about (that Saugus game) before our game started,” said coach Joe Conlon. “We told the kids that in these types of do-or-die games, you have to play the whole 45 minutes. You can’t dwell on things that happen. You just have to keep playing. And that’s what we did tonight. We got an outstanding effort from everybody who stepped out onto the ice.”It didn’t look as if it would go Lynn’s way early, as Weston – after skating off the ice tied at 1-1 (thanks to a Spartan goal by Matt Timperio and Lynn’s shorthanded response by John Finnigan) – got two quick ones in the second period (by John Goguen and Joe Pasquale) to take a 3-1 lead. But Lynn got a dandy of a goal at 9:28 of the period to climb to within one – a score that Conlon said “turned the whole game around. It gave us huge momentum.”Sean Gately made the play, staying with it as the puck looked as if it would nestle under Wildcat goalie Sam Goodman’s pads. He tapped it out backhanded, and somehow got it across to Steve Petkevitch, who redirected it home.The Jets hit the back of the net again at 11:55 when Tony Uva scored on the rebound of a shot by Dan Rustani to tie it up, and before anyone could get settled in their seats, Kyle Devin put Lynn ahead for good, with a three-quarters-of-the-ice rush and a quick shot that eluded Goodman.D.J. Hunt, who had assisted on the game-tying goal, gave Lynn a little breathing room at 4:17 of the third period, with an unassisted goal, lofting a long shot from just inside the Weston blue line.”Overall,” said Conlon, “we felt that if we could play them five-on-five, (we) stood a good chance against them.”He was right. As long as the sides were even, Lynn carried the play. However, two of Weston’s three goals were on the power play.Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].
