Lynn Jets roar past Salem, 5-1

SALEM – The Lynn Jets’ goal Saturday night was to make life as difficult as possible for Salem goaltender Brett Harring by creating traffic in front and working the puck low.Mission accomplished as the Jets overcame a sluggish start and sent 51 shots Harring’s way in a 5-1 victory at Salem State University’s Rockett Arena. All but one of Lynn’s goals came on close-range rebounds with Salem in scramble mode after Harring saves.It was the Jets’ second win against Salem in 10 days and they now sit third in the NEC South at 2-2-0 (4-2-0 overall). Salem slipped 0-3-1 (1-5-2).”He’s a very good goaltender and we knew we had to make it difficult for him to see the puck. We got off to the slow start, but we didn’t panic and everyone contributed,” said Jets’ coach Joe Conlon.The Jets’ second line led the way with Steve Petkevich (goal, two assists), Tony Uva (goal, assist) and Corey Wojewodzic (goal, assist) accounting for three goals and seven points. Yet the ability to regularly roll out their third line of Brandon Devin, Tyler Craig and Alex Amico kept the top two lines fresh and ultimately wore out the Witches.”The third line did a great job of forechecking and the second line kept working the puck low and getting quality shots,” said Conlon.Salem had the better of it in the early going and grabbed a 1-0 lead at 5:45 of the first period on an odd-man rush initiated by Matt Jalbert, who shoveled the puck past a pinching Jets’ defenseman and moved up the right wing before delivering a diagonal pass to freshman Alex Gianelli for an open side finish. Jets’ keeper Mike Gately (17 saves) slammed the door thereafter, lowering his goals against average to 2.33 and improving his save percentage to .908 on the season.Jalbert’s goal shook the Jets from their lethargy and they tied it with 5:22 left in the period when Petkevich jammed a rebound past Harring’s skate at the right post.After killing the remainder of a 5-on-3 power play at the start of the second period, the Jets proceeded to pour 24 shots on Harring and put the game away with three goals in a span of 3:57.Dan Rustani netted the game-winner at 3:11 when he popped the rebound of Mark Brazell’s initial shot up and over the sprawled Harring. Then, with an extra skater on during a delayed penalty call against Salem, Uva deposited the rebound of Kyle Devin’s bomb from the right point for a 3-1 lead at 5:20. Finally, Wojewodzic chipped the rebound of his own deflected pass over Harring’s left shoulder with 7:52 left in the period.The third period was a matter of maintenance for Lynn and the big defenseman Devin added the game’s final goal with 1:44 to play, snapping a wrist shot from the left circle over Harring’s right shoulder after an end-to-end solo sojourn.”I think right now we’re OK as far as the big picture goes. There’s still plenty we need to work on and correct. We have a tough stretch coming up,” said Conlon. The Jets next take on Revere Wednesday at Connery (4 p.m.).