Lions boost their playoff hopes with 6-3 win against Maine

Trois-Rivières, March 29, 2024 – (Montreal Canadiens affiliate) Lions de Trois-Rivières defeated the (Boston Bruins affiliate) Maine Mariners 6-3 on Friday night at Colisée Vidéotron. With the victory the Lions remain in fourth place in the North Division and continue to hold the division’s final playoff spot. (New York Islanders affiliate) Worcester Railers also won their game on Friday night against the (Toronto Maple Leafs affiliate) Newfoundland Growlers, meaning the Railers are in third place in the division.

The Lions got off to a poor start in the first period, with the Mariners’ Christian Sarlo scoring at 3:29. It took Trois-Rivières some time to get their skating legs: They finally did by period’s end, however it wasn’t enough to solve Maine goaltender Brad Arvanitis and the period concluded with the Mariners holding a 1-0 lead.

The Lions started the second period where they left off after the first but now took advantage of their scoring chances. Trois-Rivières’ Justin Ducharme opened the scoring for the Lions at 3:27, and then at 10:28 Jakov Novak set a Lions’ record with his 27th goal of the season. The Mariners evened the score at 2-2 shortly thereafter. Tempers flared during the period, with Lions captain Cedric Montminy and Maine’s Connor Doherty engaging in a rock ‘em sock ‘em. The Mariner’s Cameron Askew received a game misconduct during the Montminy-Doherty dust-up for fighting off the playing surface.

The Mariners regained the lead at the start of the third period when Sarlo scored his second of the night. From that point on, however, the Lions closed the door on the New Englanders: Novak (his second of the game), and then Nolan Yaremko, Nicolas Guay (into an empty net) and Justin Ducharme (also into an empty net) all scored within the final minutes of the period to clinch the win for the Lions.

The Lions and Mariners face off once again on Saturday afternoon at Colisée Vidéotron with puck drop at 3:00 p.m.

3 stars:

1st star: Nolan Yaremko, Lions de Trois-Rivières

2nd star: Jakov Novak, Lions de Trois-Rivières

3rd star: Christian Sarlo, Maine Mariners