The bright side? The Lions remain in third place in the North Division

The Lions took to the ice this afternoon for their third game in 72 hours against the Newfoundland Growlers.

Newfoundland set the tone early in the first period when Ben Finkelstein took advantage of a Growler power play and scored against Lions netminder Tristan Bérubé. Growlers forward Marc Johnstone then scored his fifth of the season to make the score 2-0. Jeremy McKenna made the score 3-0 at which point Lions coach Éric Bélanger made a goaltender switch for Carmine-Anthony Pagliarulo. Shortly after the change it was Todd Skirving’s turn to score now making it a 4-0 lead. With only four seconds remaining in the period Lions defenceman Hayden Shaw got the Lions on the board. Going into the first intermission the Growlers led 4-1.

The deluge continued early in the second period with the Growlers’ McKenna and Derian Plouffe each scoring, followed by another from Skirving making the score 7-1. Coach Bélanger opted to put Bérubé back in net, but it wasn’t long before Plouffe stretched the lead to 8-1. The Lions’ Anthony Nellis broke the Growlers stretch of unanswered goals when he scored his 13th of the season. With 36 seconds remaining in the period Skirving had his hat trick and the Growlers led 9-2 heading into the third period.

The Lions’ William Leblanc was the first to score in the third to ever-so-slightly reduce the Growlers’ lead, but after a string of penalties assessed to both teams it was the Growlers’ Maurizio Colella who capitalized on a two-man advantage.Final score: Newfoundland – 10, Trois-Rivières – 3.

The Lions’ next game is March 2 when the Adirondack Thunder will be visiting Colisée Vidéotron. To buy your tickets, please click on the link below.