The Lions and the Thunder met for the third time this season on Saturday night in Adirondack. The teams last squared off on Wednesday with the Thunder registering a 2-1 overtime victory, so Saturday’s game had the makings of another tight contest with both teams having each won a game in their two prior meetings.
Only eight seconds had elapsed in the first period when the Lions’ John Parker-Jones and Adirondack’s Darian Skeoch engaged in fisticuffs. The Thunder opened the scoring when Shane Harper scored his third of the season with a power play tally, with assists going to Yushiroh Hirano and Patrick Grasso. The Lions responded at 12:45 when Alex-Olivier Voyer notched his third of the season, but it took the Thunder just under a minute to regain their lead with a Zach Walker short-handed goal.
Adirondack’s Ryan Smith scored the only goal of the second period, his 13th of the season, and extended the Thunder’s lead to 3-1. The goal came off a miscue by Lions’ netminder Joe Vrbetic. Trois-Rivières had only six shots on goal in the period, while Adirondack had 13.
Three goals were scored in the third period, and the game’s second fight occurred as well when the Thunder’s Nico Blachman and the Lions’ Nicolas Larivière dropped the gloves after Blachman laid a solid hit on Larivière. Adirondack notched two empty-net goals, one by Tristan Ashbrook and the other by Grasso. Sandwiched between those two markers, the Lions’ Nick Jermain also scored, but it was too little, too late. The Lions now take a few days off for Christmas, with the team’s next game coming Wednesday night at Colisée Vidéotron against the Newfoundland Growlers. Trois-Rivières will be hoping to put a stop to their winless streak, which is now at seven games.
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