Lions start final road trip of the regular season with a shutout win

The Lions started their final road trip of the regular season on Friday night against a formidable opponent: The Worcester Railers who, like Trois-Rivières are battling for one of two remaining playoff spots in the North Division. The race could not be any tighter for head coach Éric Bélanger’s Lions with Trois-Rivières starting the night in third place with a .516 winning percentage and Worcester in fourth place with a .508 winning percentage. By night’s end, those percentages were going to change. The first period in the DCU Center saw the Lions having several excellent scoring chances before finally breaking the ice when Olivier Archambault took advantage of a rebound for his 19th goal of the season. After 20 minutes of play the Lions led 1-0. The Lions completely dominated the second period and added two goals to their lead. At the 9:35 mark Lions’ captain Cédric Montminy was the first to find the back of Railers’ goaltender Colten Ellis’ net with a precision shot, and just over four minutes later it was recent arrival Josh Brook’s turn to score. As the teams headed into the second intermission the Lions held a 3-0 lead.Just 17 seconds into the third period Anthony Nellis scored his 18th goal of the season to give the Lions a 4-0 lead. Eight minutes later Archambault scored his second of the night and after having dominated the game from start to finish the Lions added one more courtesy of Nellis’ second of the game. The Lions’ shutout win was an important step towards the team’s immediate goal of reaching the playoffs.The teams square off again on Saturday night for the second of two games at the DCU Center. It’s safe to say that the Railers will be desperate for a win and the Lions will have their work cut out for them. The Lions’ winning percentage is now .523 while the Railers is .500.