LYNN– The Lynn Jets have had their share of battles over the years with Latin Academy. Two years ago, the Dragons ended Lynn’s season in the Division 3 North quarterfinal. Last year, the Jets gained revenge by closing Latin Academy’s postseason run in the Division 3 North first round.
Wednesday night, it was the Jets that came away with a 3-0 win at William P. Connery Rink behind goalie Jack Gallant’s first career shutout.
“We were trying to stress the importance of ‘no letdown’ tonight,” Lynn coach Mike Roberts said. “We played three games in four days last week, two wins and a good showing against a good Winthrop team. We knew Latin Academy was going to come in here aggressively and not let us take them for granted, which luckily we didn’t.”
Gallant finished with 19 saves.
“Jack’s unreal. From where he came last year as a defenseman, he earned this shutout,” Roberts said. “He faced a lot of good, quality shots. Toward the end, he was solid and the defense was able to feed off that. Now we have to get all three phases of the game going at once.”
Brian Clougherty scored two goals and John DiFilippo scored one. DiFilippo, Paul Papageorgiou and John MacDonald each dished one assist.
For the Dragons, goalie Andrew Sahatjian finished with 22 saves.
“Andrew was really solid all night,” Latin Academy coach Patrick Mudie said. “I think the first goal kicked off the boards, some unlucky puck luck. But Andrew was the backbone of our team tonight.”
Latin Academy drew a penalty two minutes into the first period but Lynn’s defense held down the fort to squash the early threat. The effort paid off three minutes later when Clougherty picked up a free puck in front of the net and cashed it in for Lynn’s first goal of the night. The Jets held their 1-0 lead at the first intermission.
The Jets killed another Dragons power play midway through the second period- Lynn’s third penalty kill of the night. Latin Academy came close to keeping it a 1-0 deficit heading into the third period but Clougherty found the back of the net with 12.3 seconds remaining. The Jets led 2-0 at the second intermission.
“The power play’s something we’ve been trying to work through,” Mudie said. “We’re struggling right now with the power play. We’re going to have good practices Thursday and Friday. I think we’re just going through a little low in scoring right now and we’re trying to get out of that.
“Lynn has a couple really good kids on their team,” Mudie added. “Clougherty and DiFilippo, particularly, they usually light the lamp. We had a game plan to try to take those guys out but that’s why you play a team twice in a season. We’ll see what happens next time.”
With Latin Academy still within reach, Lynn made it a point to stay out of the penalty box in the third period. The Jets did exactly that, making the Dragons work for their opportunities as they chased two goals. Gallant faced a flurry of shots in the final minutes but the senior stood tall in net to keep Latin Academy at bay. DiFilippo’s empty-netter with .5 seconds to play sealed Lynn’s 3-0 win.
“Going into the third period we stressed ‘stay out of the box’ which we did,” Roberts said. “We had two penalties in the first, one in the second. We were able to play a clean period in the third period. That’s something we’ve been trying to do, play that 15 final minutes and not give up points when we have them on the board. We did that tonight with Jack playing outstanding and the defense tightening up.
“We mixed the lines up a bit today,” Roberts added. “We had a couple guys playing in spots they haven’t been in. The younger guys stepped up. Matt Leonard stepped in on the third line. I was able to rotate all three lines, which we haven’t been doing but tonight was good.”
Lynn (3-2-1) visits Everett Saturday (1) when the Jets return to Northeastern Conference play.
