LYNN — Sometimes it takes a few games for a team to show determination, grit and a “never-quit” attitude.
The Peabody boys hockey team didn’t waste any time showing all of the above in Saturday’s season opener against Lynn.
Behind a 5-goal third period, Peabody turned a 2-goal deficit into a come-from-behind 7-5 win at Connery Rink.
“We know we have the ability to play if we stay within our system, our team concept,” first-year Tanners coach Christian Wright said. “I think in the past, guys have maybe gone individual. We’re still trying to change that way of thinking. Everyone always throws out the cliche of teamwork. When you have a team like ours, it’s essential to play as a team.”
Peabody trailed 3-2 heading into the third period before turning on its jets over the last 15 minutes. In a team effort, Andrew Phillips, Michael Zarro, Bryan Swaczyk, Luke Buckley and Anthony Bettencourt netted one goal apiece in the third period. Buckley and Alex Freedman scored a goal each in the second period.
“They stayed disciplined, where they were supposed to be, causing turnovers and turning them into offense,” Wright said. “That’s where that energy came from. In between the second and third periods, they didn’t get down on themselves which has always been a problem in the past. They didn’t give up.”
Lynn’s offense was its positive takeaway. Matt Devin and Matt Patrie engineered the offense with two goals each and Jaylen Porter scored one.
“We had two goals during the entire four scrimmages of our preseason,” Jets coach Mike Roberts said. “Offensively I thought we played really well. We were getting shots on net. That was one thing I wanted us to focus on and they did a great job. We ran only two lines and that ended up getting to us in the third period.”
Avoiding penalties will be key for Lynn moving forward. The Jets were whistled for seven penalties, three of them in the third period.
“We have to stay out of the box,” Roberts said. “We like to play the physical game. Those penalties hurt us. We had a 3-1 lead and we allowed them to get back in the game. They gained some momentum. We’re not the type of team that can take penalties and play shorthanded all game. It wore us down.”
Lynn led 1-0 at the end of the first period on Patrie’s power play goal. Patrie found Devin four minutes into the second period, stretching Lynn’s lead to 2-0. Buckley got the Tanners on the board midway through the period. Porter and Freedman swapped goals, closing the second period with Lynn hanging on to a 3-2 lead.
“Lynn’s a younger team but they played really well,” Wright said. “They took advantage of us for two periods. But we settled down and we let our experience and maturity take over. We had confidence in ourselves. Lynn was flying. To come back on a pretty decent team, I was happy with that.”
Then it was all Peabody. In a 2-minute span the Tanners scored three goals — one each from Phillips, Zarro and Swaczyk — and grabbed 5-3 lead. Buckley and Bettencourt capped the scoring for Peabody with tallies in the closing stretch. Devin and Patrie each scored once over the final 3:27 of play.
“It’s disappointing to come away with a loss,” Roberts said. “We missed an opportunity. We weren’t sure what we were going to get. We came out very physical. We took it to them in the early going. That’s positive stuff on our side.”
Lynn (0-1) turns its attention to Wednesday’s (6) home game against Winthrop.
Peabody (1-0) hosts Marblehead Wednesday (5:15).
“We’ve been working on our system for a couple weeks now,” Wright said. “We ran it better (Saturday). It’s not 100 percent, that’s why we gave up five goals. But we have the ability to work within a system. Individuals, we aren’t good enough. As a team, we’re very good.”
