After the Lions endured a tough Friday night loss, the team was looking to pull up its sleeves less than 24 hours later in an early Saturday evening contest, the second game of a two-game series against the Admirals at the Norfolk Scope in Virginia. The Admirals made no lineup changes since the Friday encounter, while Trois-Rivières made only one, and that was Joe Vrbetic getting the start in goal after having replaced Zachary Émond Friday night and holding Norfolk scoreless.
The Lions held a decisive advantage in shots on goal in the first period (16-5), but it was Norfolk that was able to find the back of the net. After the Admirals’ Dmitry Kuzmin had his goal overturned, Josh McDougall’s marker did count and gave Norfolk a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
Norfolk added to their lead at the start of the second period when after only 35 seconds of play Danny Katic made the score 2-0. The Lions are one of the best 4-on-4 teams in the ECHL, and they proved that once again when Anthony Beauregard scored with both sides icing four skaters when he beat Admirals’ netminder Yaniv Perets all alone. After 40 minutes of play Norfolk held a 2-1 lead.
All the fireworks in the third period occurred in the waning minutes: Norfolk’s Mathieu Roy increased the Admirals’ lead to 3-1 at 16:06, but just 30 seconds later the Lions’ Nicolas Guay scored to make the score 3-2. And with six seconds remaining in regulation time, Trois-Rivières captain Cedric Montminy came to the rescue with the equalizer. Overtime beckoned.
It took just over three minutes into overtime for the Admirals to score the winning goal when Gehrett Sargis dented the twine. Sargis was named the game’s first star for his efforts.
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