Trois-Rivières, April 17, 2024 – (Montreal Canadiens affiliate) Lions de Trois-Rivières lost 4-2 to the (Winnipeg Jets and Carolina Hurricanes affiliate) Norfolk Admirals on Wednesday night at Colisée Vidéotron. Lions’ head coach Ron Choules' squad now trail 1-0 in the North Division best-of-seven semi-final series.
Both teams had quality scoring chances in the first period, but goaltenders Zachary Émond of the Lions and Oskari Salminen of the Admirals stood tall.
The Admirals were the first of the two teams to light the scoreboard in the second period, scoring at 3:28 and 5:13. The final 10 minutes of the period saw the Lions applying full-throttle pressure, but the Admirals’ Salminen remained rock solid in goal and after 40 minutes of play the Lions were trailing 2-0.
Lions captain Cedric Montminy reduced the gap to 2-1 at the start of the third period. The remainder of the game was a tough, physical affair, the kind of hockey one expects to see come playoff time. A melee broke out after the Admirals potted their third goal into an empty net, following which Montminy again narrowed the gap, this time to 3-2 with only 23 seconds left to play. Ultimately the Admirals added another empty-net goal to secure the 4-2 victory.
The table is now set for Game 2 of the series on Friday at 7:00 p.m. at Colisée Vidéotron.
3 stars:
1st star: Oskari Salminen, Norfolk Admirals
2nd star: Cedric Montminy, Lions de Trois-Rivières
3rd star: Brady Fleurent, Norfolk Admirals
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