Lions fall to Royals once again

The Lions were back on Colisée Vidéotron ice Saturday afternoon to take on Reading, after having lost to these same Royals 5-1 on Friday night.Trois-Rivières had several good scoring chances in the first period, which must have made head coach Éric Bélanger happy. Unfortunately, none of those good scoring chances translated into goals, and after 20 minutes of play the teams headed into the intermission tied at 0-0.The Royals’ Frank Diachara opened the scoring close to six minutes into the second period on a Reading power play. The Lions continued to be held scoreless and the Royals led the game 1-0 as the teams entered the second intermission.Reading’s Grant Cooper extended the Royals’ lead to 2-0 at the 12:21 mark of the third period, the result of a 3-on-2 opportunity. With just over five minutes remaining in the period the Lions’ Mathieu Gagnon put Trois-Rivières on the scoreboard to get the Lions within a goal. But that was as close as the home side would get, and Reading earned a 2-1 victory.The Lions and Royals go at it once again on Sunday afternoon at Colisée Vidéotron, with puck drop at 4:00 p.m. The Lions are in desperate need of a win as they continue to battle for a North Division playoff spot along with the Maine Mariners and Worcester Railers.