WINTHROP – The last time the Peabody hockey team lost a game was on New Year’s Eve, when it fell to Winthrop, 3-1, at McVann-O’Keefe Rink.Since then, the Tanners have been nearly unstoppable, heading into Wednesday’s rematch with the Vikings sporting a 12-game winning streak.If that wasn’t enough to get the intensity up, add the fact that the Vikings were unbeaten and had a chance to win the Northeastern Conference’s North division title with a win or tie.Well, the Tanners weren’t ready to watch Winthrop celebrate at their expense as Andrew Bucci and Eric Muise scored second-period goals and sophomore Derek Savage stopped 28 shots to give Peabody a 2-1 win.The win, coupled with Revere’s 7-1 decision over Danvers, keeps three teams alive to win the NEC North. The Vikings need to win on Saturday to capture the title outright, while a tie and a win by Peabody would result in the two sharing the title. Revere needs to beat Peabody and have Winthrop lose to win the title.For Peabody coach Mark Leonard, it was a satisfying win in a building that has been unkind to opposing teams for many years.”We made our statement,” Leonard said. “It’s a good win, but we still need some help. But that’s 13 in a row and 16-2-0 overall. That’s uncharted waters for us.”After scoring 79 goals in their first 16 games to help cover up a defense that was still making some mistakes, the Tanners have seen their back line come of age in back-to-back 2-1 wins.”It was all offense with us for a while, but as you see now, the defense has finally caught up and are doing a great job,” Leonard said.One of the main reasons for that chasm closing up is the play of Savage in goal. The sophomore came in sporting a 2.23 GAA and did nothing but help that with several spectacular saves in the third period.”This really gives us a great boost going into the playoffs,” Savage said.After a first period that saw Peabody hold a 7-6 shots on goal advantage but featured neither team playing its best, the Tanners (16-2-0) came to life in the second.From the drop of the puck in the second, Peabody had Winthrop (13-1-2) pinned in its end. Only the solid goaltending of Pat Feeley kept the Tanners at bay.But it was Peabody’s three amigos that broke the ice at 5:42. Off a face-off in the Winthrop end, Mike Broughton fired a shot that was deflected by Derek Pereira and stopped by Feeley.Bucci, however, was waiting at the right post and was able to chip home the rebound for his 17th goal of the season.Just under five minutes later, Peabody’s Mike Broughton was called for interference at 11:37. But the Tanner offense was able to strike again.Bucci nearly made it 2-0 late in the PK when he cut to the net and was robbed by a diving blocker save from Feeley. The junior, however, would get revenge seconds later.Bucci won the face-off back to Eric Muise at the right point for a shot through traffic that found its mark for a 2-0 lead. The assist gave Bucci the NEC scoring lead with 44 points, one ahead of linemate Matt Rodgers.”We should have put the game away in the second period, but we didn’t,” Leonard said. “And we knew they would come out flying in the third.”And that the Vikings did, assaulting the Peabody goal with 14 shots in the final 15 minutes. But Savage stood tall, keeping Winthrop at bay until an unassisted goal by Alex Hamilton at 8:26.Peabody then had to survive an interference penalty to A.J. Parker with 1:55 to go and a pair of face-offs in its zone in the final 30 seconds to get the win.”We knew they’d give us all kinds of pressure in the third period and we really did a nice job defensively,” Leonard said.