It was a night and day storyline for the Lions Sunday afternoon at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. The previous night saw the Lions being shutout 4-0 by the Railers, and while things didn’t start well for Trois-Rivières on Sunday afternoon with Worcester scoring the first two goals of the game, the Lions roared back with five unanswered goals for a 5-2 victory against the Railers.
Things started well for the Lions as the team showed a marked turnaround from Saturday’s performance. At one point in the first period Trois-Rivières was outshooting the Railers by a margin of 12 to 3. But a lack of discipline hurt the Lions and Worcester was able to overtake Trois-Rivières in the shot category: By the end of the period the Railers had outshot the Lions 18 to 12 and had also found the back of the Trois-Rivières net twice courtesy of goals by Zach White and Reece Newkirk late in the period.
The tide turned completely in the second period in favour of the Lions. Jakov Novak opened the scoring for Trois-Rivières at 3:18 and Nicolas Larivière followed that goal up by leveling the score at 2-2 a minute later. The Lions’ Novak Yaremko then scored twice within two minutes to give Trois-Rivières a 4-2 lead. The Railers could not muster a response.
After launching 21 shots at the Railers net in the second period, the Lions kept up the pressure in the third and outshot Worcester 13 to 3. Trois-Rivières’ Yaremko scored his third goal of the game for his first-ever ECHL hat trick.
1st star: Nolan Yaremko – Lions de Trois-Rivières
2nd star: Javok Novak – Lions de Trois-Rivières
3rd star: Zach White – Worcester Railers