LYNN — After some bright spots in its last two Northeastern Conference games, the Lynn Jets hockey team and head coach Mike Roberts believed they were taking some forward strides on the ice.
But Wednesday, Lynn’s play took a few steps back again in a 12-2 loss to Dracut/Tyngsboro at Connery Skating Rink.
“We played well against Saugus, decent against Swampscott and now just a complete regression (Tuesday),” Lynn coach Mike Roberts said. “It’s disappointing when you’re 0-15 now. You come to work everyday at practice trying to get better every day. You think you’re kind of getting to that point where it starts to click then you have another game where you don’t put anything together at any level.”
Steven DiFilippo (freshman) started the night in net for Lynn and seventh-grader Richie Avery took over goaltending duties in the final two periods. Oddly enough, the pair were perfect defending Dracut’s five breakaway chances but had some struggles for the majority of the night.
“Last couple games we had decent goaltending,” Roberts said. “I thought we had gotten over the hump of letting in the early goals, which is a killer. Especially for a team that doesn’t score a lot of goals. You let in a couple of soft ones early and it just kind of trickles.
“(Allowing) breakaways has been a problem all season. The defense has to at some point make sure that he is the last man back.”
Devin Copithorine scored his first high school goal for the Jets, finding the back of the net on a power play in the first period off an assist by Matt Leonard. Senior captain Luke Rao added his goal in the second period.
Dracut started the night with a pair of goals from Jared DeBruin and Patrick Crowley to take a quick 2-0 lead. A few minutes later A.J. Ciszek bumped the lead up to 3-0 with his tally.
From there Lynn had a pair of power plays but Dracut didn’t let up. Avery made pad saves on a pair of breakaways to start the man advantage.
Lynn finally cashed in on the power play when Leonard’s wrap around try left a rebound right out front for Copithorine, who lit the lamp to cut the Dracut lead to 3-1.
But Dracut didn’t skip a beat, finishing the period with three-straight goals to go ahead 6-1.
Dracut killed off another penalty in the second and then ripped off four straight goals to stretch its lead to 10-1.
Rao broke the streak midway through the second when his wrist shot found the back of the net and cut the hole to 10-2.
The Jets controlled possession time in the final 15 minutes but had nothing to show for it while Dracut capped off the 12-2 win.
“The disappointing part is that I thought Saugus and Swampscott had some kids that were skating and we were playing fairly well coming into this,” Roberts said. “Then you come against a team that only has four wins and (Dracut) took it to us. We weren’t physical in the first period at all. We were sitting back on our heels and they got the early goals to coast through.”
Lynn (0-15) takes on Beverly Saturday (6:30) at Endicott’s Ray Bourque Arena.