STONEHAM — The No. 5 Lynn Jets hockey team didn’t make it easy, fighting back from a deficit three different times before finally defeating No. 12 Latin Academy, 5-4, in the first round of the Division 3 North state tournament at Stoneham Arena Thursday night. The Jets got off to a rough start, but as has been the case all year, they never quit.
“This has kind of been our M.O. all year, having to fight back like this,” said Lynn coach Mike Roberts, who won his first career playoff game. “We came out pretty flat in the first, but our guys never quit and really stepped up when they needed to. There’s still a lot to improve on, but I couldn’t be happier with how these guys fought back.”
John DiFilippo led the way with two goals and one assist. The brothers Sean and Matt Devin each scored one goal, while Mike Clougherty and John MacDonald each had one assist. And with one goal and one assist on the night, Brian Clougherty’s now four points shy of his 100th career point.
The Dragons were the more aggressive team in the first period, getting a number of shots on Gallant in the first few minutes. Then, about six minutes into the period, Aaron Mulligan sent a pass in deep to Sam DiMento, who promptly buried a goal to give Latin Academy a 1-0 lead.
From that point to the end of the first, Lynn was able to get some momentum going and put plenty of shots on net. Despite getting six shots on goal on the lone powerplay they earned in the first, the Jets couldn’t find the back of the net and went into the first intermission down a goal.
The second period is where the fireworks started flying. Things didn’t start off well for Lynn, as Latin Academy’s Tyler Prendergast found the back of the net just three minutes into the action. But the Jets recovered well, scoring just 17 seconds later when Mike Clougherty found DiFilippo for his first goal of the game. The momentum continued in Lynn’s favor for the next several minutes, and the Jets tied the score at 2-2 with 9:28 remaining when Matt Devin smacked home a deflected puck.
Unfortunately for the Jets, Latin Academy came back with a goal off the ensuing faceoff 10 seconds later. The Jets managed to tie the game once again with just under six minutes to go in the period, when Brian Clougherty found DiFilippo for his second goal. But once again Latin Academy roared back with a goal, this time only nine seconds later, to take a 4-3 lead into the third period.
“We talked a lot about faceoffs this week, and we scored twice tonight to tie up the score and then gave a goal right back off of the ensuing faceoff, so that needs to be cleaned up,” Roberts said.
In the third period, the Jets put their foot down. It started less than one minute into the period, when DiFilippo gained control of the puck in his own zone on the penalty kill. He sent a slick pass through two defenders to a streaking Sean Devin, who broke free. Devin dangled and snuck a backhanded shot into the net to tie the score at 4-4. Then, less than three minutes later and after killing off yet another penalty, Brian Clougherty took control of the puck, raced up the ice and fired a hard wrist shot under Dragons goalie Andrew Sahatjian’s armpit for the eventual game-winner.
It wasn’t over yet, as the Jets still had 11 minutes standing between them and the quarterfinal. Lynn had to kill two more penalties in the final six minutes, including almost a full minute of a 5-on-3. But thanks to the stellar play of Gallant, who made five game-saving saves down the stretch, the Jets skated away with the victory.
“I spoke with Jack individually between the second and third periods, and I told him that if he gives us a third period where he plays how he has over the last 10 games, we’re going to walk away with a win,” Roberts said. “He came up big when we needed him most.”
Next for the Jets will be No. 4 Shawsheen in the quarterfinal round. The two teams have met before, with the Rams earning a 5-2 win on January 3. But as Roberts is quick to point out, a lot has changed since then.
“We had some guys missing due to injury in that game, and obviously Jack has made leaps and bounds since in goal since then, so we’re a different team,” he said. “But we’re going to have to come out from the start and play much better than we did tonight if we want to get a win on Sunday.”
Lynn and Shawsheen will drop the puck at 6 p.m. Sunday at Stoneham.
