Following four days of inactivity, it was – finally – time for Game 4 of the first round of the North Division playoffs between the Norfolk Admirals and the Lions. The Admirals entered the night holding a 2-1 lead in the series, and the Lions were out to even things up at two games apiece in this best-of-seven playoff series.
Things could not have gone worse in the first period for Trois-Rivières. Norfolk notched three goals in the opening 20 minutes of play while the Lions were held scoreless. The Admirals’ Gehrett Sargis opened the scoring at 10:58, and then 40 seconds later Austen Keating made the score 2-0. And at 18:27 Sargis scored his second goal to give Norfolk a 3-0 advantage. The Lions were going to have to turn the tide in the second period if they entertained any thoughts of making a comeback from a three-goal deficit.
The Admirals started the second period right where they left off the first when former Lion Thomas Caron scored his first goal of the series. Trois-Rivières’ Cedric Montminy was ultimately able to get the Lions on the scoreboard at 7:02 and his marker was followed eight minutes later by teammate Jakov Novak scoring to make it a 4-2 game. Unfortunately for Novak, just two minutes after his goal he was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for slashing to end his night, representing a massive hit to the Lions’ hopes.
The Lions did continue their comeback in the third period when Jacob Paquette scored to narrow the gap to 4-3. But that was as close as Trois-Rivières would get. A bad Nolan Yaremko penalty for tripping led to a Simon Kubicek goal to give Norfolk a 5-3 lead at 15:28, and then Darick Louis-Jean scored into an empty net to seal the deal for the Admirals with a 6-3 victory.
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