Friday night saw the Lions in Norfolk, Virginia to face the Admirals in the first game of a two-games-in-two-days series. Yaniv Perets got the start in goal for the Admirals while Lions’ head coach Ron Choules opted to go with Zachary Émond in nets.
The first period was a goalapalooza with five pucks ultimately finding their way past the goalkeepers.
After relinquishing two goals in a 15-second span just before the five-minute mark, the Lions responded at 10:45 with a goal from John Parker-Jones. With less than two minutes remaining in the period the Lions’ Anthony Beauregard intercepted an errant pass and beat Perets. But then with only 34 seconds remaining in the period Norfolk’s Danny Katic scored to give the Admirals a 3-2 lead going into the first intermission.
The pace of play slowed down somewhat at the beginning of the second period before the Admirals’
Simon Kubicek let loose a top shelf rocket that stymied Émond. Under three minutes later Norfolk’s Katic scored his second of the game which resulted in Émond being pulled in favour of Joe Vrbetic. The Lions then narrowed the gap when Cédric Montminy scored on the power play to make the score 5-3 after two periods of play.
The third period was less intense than the previous two, with the Admirals playing a shutdown defensive style to guard their lead and the Lions were unable to successfully penetrate. Norfolk’s Brady Fleurent put the nail in the coffin when he scored the Admirals' sixth goal into an empty net to make the final score 6-3.
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