Lions start homestand with win against Maine

Tuesday night saw Lions head coach Éric Bélanger and his players begin a five-games-in-six-nights homestand. Starting things off were the Maine Mariners.Trois-Rivières began the game in fine style when Alexandre Fortin scored his fifth goal of the season in only his fourth game wearing the Lions’ colours. That was followed when quickly off a faceoff Tim Vanstone sent a perfect pass to Connor Welsh to make the score 2-0. It was Welsh’s first goal of the season. The teams headed into the intermission with the Lions holding a two-goal lead.Since his return to the lineup, Lions’ forward Julien Nantel has continually impressed and has registered 3 points. Early in the second period he took advantage of a superb pass from teammate Brenden Locke to make the score 3-0. The Mariners clawed back, however, with goals from Patrick Shea and Tyler Hinam. Lions captain Cédric Montminy then scored his 17th goal of the season while Trois-Rivières was playing a man short. With only 17 seconds remaining in the period Anthony Nellis beat Mariners’ starting goalkeeper Jérémy Brodeur to stretch the Lions’ lead to three goals. After 40 minutes of play the Lions led the Mariners 5-2.The Mariners changed goaltenders for the third period with Stefanos Lekkas now between the pipes in the hopes of slowing the Lions down. And just 30 seconds into the period Maine’s Tyler Hinam and the Lions’ Tim Vanstone dropped the gloves, no doubt with the Mariners hoping it might change the tone of the game. In the short-term it might well have, as Maine’s Patrick Shea scored his second goal of the game. However, that was the end of the scoring for the night and the Lions garnered a much-needed two points, beating the Mariners 5-3.The Lions next game is Wednesday evening against the Adirondack Thunder at Colisée Vidéotron. Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m.To purchase your tickets, please click on the link below.