Trois-Rivières, March 16, 2024 – The (Montreal Canadiens affiliate) Lions de Trois-Rivières’ momentum from Friday night continued unabated Saturday afternoon with a 5-4 shootout win against the (Dallas Stars affiliate) Idaho Steelheads. With the win the Lions collected five out of a possible six points against the ECHL’s third best team. The victory means Trois-Rivières is now tied with the (New York Islanders affiliate) Worcester Railers in fourth place in the North Division and for the fourth and final playoff spot as well. The rankings might change by the end of Saturday night, however, as the Railers are still to play on Saturday as of this writing.
The Lions found themselves having to play catch-up hockey early in the first period when Idaho’s Keaton Mastrodonato beat Trois-Rivières netminder Strauss Mann at 1:12. The Lions’ Alex-Olivier Voyer made the score 1-1 at 15:31 of the period, but the Steelheads responded less than two minutes later to take a 2-1 lead going into the first intermission.
The teams swapped leads in the second period. The Lions scored two goals in nine seconds to take a 3-2 lead, with Mason Kohn’s tally to give the Lions a temporary lead his first as a professional. The Steelheads responded a few minutes later, scoring two goals of their own in 51 seconds to take a 4-3 lead. Trois-Rivières’ Jakov Novak took advantage of a power play opportunity to score for the Lions and leave the teams deadlocked at 4-4 after 40 minutes of play.
Both teams’ defences were solid in the third period, and Idaho goaltender Bryan Thomson and the Lions’ Mann were brick walls with neither surrendering a goal. Overtime solved nothing, so it was off to a shootout where Voyer and Novak each scored for the Lions while neither Steelhead shooter was able to put the puck past Mann.
The Lions now travel south to Florida where they will face the (Buffalo Sabres affiliate) Jacksonville Icemen on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m., followed by games in Georgia and South Carolina.
3 stars:
1st star: Jakov Novak, Lions de Trois-Rivières
2nd star: Nolan Yaremko, Lions de Trois-Rivières
3rd star: Mason Kohn, Lions de Trois-Rivières
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